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.

26:14–16 Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the chief priests and asked how much they were willing to pay if he would deliver Jesus into their hands. The motive behind Judas’ treachery is not completely clear. Perhaps he felt that since Jesus had “failed” to take …