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.

26:1–5 When Jesus finished saying all these things (probably the content of chaps. 23–25) he told his disciples that in two days it would be time to celebrate the Passover and that at that time the Son of Man would be handed over to …