26:1–28:20 Review · Jesus’s execution by Rome and resurrection/vindication by God: In 26:1–28:20, Matthew narrates Jesus’s final days and hours as he willingly suffers and goes to his execution to restore his people and usher in God’s reign. Though the disciples desert him and Rome and the Jerusalem leaders crucify him as a criminal, God vindicates Jesus as Messiah and Lord at his resurrection.

26:1–16 · Matthew signals the conclusion of the fifth discourse with the familiar formula, “When Jesus had finished [saying these things],” this time referencing “all these things” to signal the final of the five blocks of Jesus’s teaching (26:1; see “Structure” in the introduction). Immediately af…