Matthew 26:14-25
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
The Passover with the Disciples
17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?”[a] 18 He said, “Go into the city to such a one, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
20 When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples;[b] 21 and as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me. 24 The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Is it I, Master?”[c]He said to him, “You have said so.”
Footnotes:
- 26.17 The passover supper was eaten this year on Friday evening (Jn 18.28). Jesus must have anticipated the passover meal because he would be dead the following day and because the meal prefigured his death.
Cited in the Catechism: In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 610 and 1339.
Commentary
26:15. It is disconcerting and sobering to realize that Judas Iscariot actually went as far as to sell the man whom he had believed to be the Messiah and who had called him to be one of the apostles. Thirty shekels or pieces of silver were the price of a slave (cf. Ex 21:32), the same value as Judas put on his Master.
Preparations for the Last Supper and announcement of Judas’ treachery
26:17. This unleavened bread, azymes, took the form of loaves which had to be eaten over a seven-day period, in commemoration of the unleavened bread which the Israelites had to take with them in their hurry to leave Egypt (cf. Ex 12:34). In Jesus’ time the passover supper was celebrated on the first day of the week of the Unleavened Bread.
26:18. Although the reference is to an unnamed person, probably our Lord gave the person’s actual name. In any event, from what other evangelists tell us (Mk 14:13; Lk 22:10), Jesus gave the disciples enough information to enable them to find the house.
26:22. Although the glorious events of Easter have yet to occur (which will teach the apostles much more about Jesus), their faith has been steadily fortified and deepened in the course of Jesus’ public ministry (cf. Jn 2:11; 6:68–69) through their contact with him and the divine grace they have been given (cf. Mt 16:17). At this point they are quite convinced that our Lord knows their internal attitudes and how they are going to act: each asks in a concerned way whether he will prove to be loyal in the time ahead.
26:24. Jesus is referring to the fact that he will give himself up freely to suffering and death. In so doing he would fulfil the will of God, as proclaimed centuries before (cf. Ps 41:10; Is 53:7). Although our Lord goes to his death voluntarily, this does not reduce the seriousness of Judas’ treachery.
26:25. This advance indication that Judas is the traitor is not noticed by the other apostles (cf. Jn 13:26–29).
Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
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