The Final Evening: The Passion narrative is the account of the suffering and death of Jesus. It normally includes all the events beginning with the garden scene in Gethsemane and finishing with the burial. The centrality of the cross in early Christian preaching is reflected in the major emphasis given to it in each of the four Gospels. Matthew 26 records the events of Wednesday and Thursday of the final week of Jesus’ life.

26:57–61 Jesus was led off under arrest to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The trial of Jesus involved three separate steps. First, there was the preliminary gathering at night in which a charge was developed against Jesus (26:57–68). The following morning, a second meeting was held, at which time the religious leaders “met in conference to plan the death of Jes…