The idea of the Alpha has become popular in men’s circles. Alpha referring to animal packs, where one of the packs members takes a leadership role. Through various ways, men seem to be less manly and so have seemingly lost their identity. There are pictures that show a well dressed man in from the first half of the 1900s with his fedora hat, suit and trench coat, put right next to a guy from 2019 dressed in skin tight shorts, woman’s shoes and a bright colored shirt. The Alph male movement seeks to reestablish a more rugged man; the type of man that tamed the west. This type of male would be best represented in a scene in the move Secondhand Lions, where Robert Duvall’s character, an old eccentric man is harassed by some young men. Duvall plays Hub, and he’s had enough. Hub grabs this young man and says this, “I'm Hub McCann. I've fought in two world wars, and countless smaller ones on three continents. I've led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I've seen the headwaters of the Nile and tribes of natives no white men had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, killed many men, and loved only one woman with a passion a flea like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am.”
This is what the Alpha movement is about, trying to get men back to being men. But, as in all things, it can be taken too far. I have seen a lot of men who want to be Alpha men and they think that means sleeping with tons of women. Treating people with disrespect. Getting your own way. But the reality is, if we are trying to be the Alpha, that means we are a part of a pack. And the Alpha of a pack looks out for the interest of the group. The Alpha of a pack goes to war for their group, plays with the cubs, keeps everyone together. The downfall of the Alpha movement is not their basic intentions but that they are missing once key piece.
Men were never to be the Alpha, and that’s what brings us back into our Matthew series, where we find ourselves in the final leg of the Gospel, in chapter 26, verse 1. And as we enter into this final part of Matthew’s Gospel, 26:1, let's look at the five sections that we have covered so far.
The first of these themes dealt with who Jesus was. He was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about God descending to earth to take on human form, so that he could rectify the problem of sin. Therefore we should listen to him.
The second section dealt with the idea of his word and how his disciples are to build their lives upon it. If Jesus is God come down, then we better open our ears and actually listen to what he says.
This is quickly followed by a section dealing with, who can be a disciple of Jesus. The answer being, anyone who puts their trust into Jesus and follows his word to build their life.
That section was then followed by a look at the type of faith a disciple was to have. A disciple was to have a faith that is learning to fully trust and actively following Jesus.
Finally, we are in the final section where we are looking at Jesus’ authority. In this we have seen how we must be satisfied with it, acting upon it, and trusting it for all that we will face. This is what it means to have a fully trusting and actively following faith.
It’s still in the topic of Jesus’ authority and our response to it that we pick up chapter 26 starting in verse 1. Let’s read together.
1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, “You have said so.”
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
33 Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
35 But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.
This is a long section, and can be looked at by cutting it into five parts. But the purpose of these summer series is to look how these individual parts connect together.
We must remember that these events follow the emphasis that we have seen on Jesus’ authority. At this point the disciples should be trusting Jesus. They’ve seen the miracles, they’ve seen Jesus silence his opposition, they have heard the teachings of Jesus to deny themselves and embrace him, loving God and loving people greater than themselves. In all of this, time and time again they have heard Jesus speak of his death on the cross and his resurrection. What comes now is the rubber to the road. Will the disciples trust Jesus? Following him the way he intends them to, or will they not?
The verses we just read are Jesus’ last teachings to his disciples this side of the cross. What follows in the verses afterwards show the strength of the trust of the disciples. But Jesus already knows that strength, he already knows how they will respond, yet here we see him continue to prepare them, not just for the coming hardship, but for what follows. Let’s look how each of these sections flows into the greater theme of Jesus’ authority and how we as his disciples are to trust him.
Chapter 26 starts out with three important details: It’s the Passover meal, which is a celebration of God’s work during the Exodus, where the Angel of Death passed over the houses of those who trusted in God by painting lamb’s blood on the doorposts. The second detail, is that again, Jesus speaks of his crucifixion. This connects the two events together. Jesus is purposeful in the when and where of his crucifixion, because he is the new lamb that people must trust in, so that the wrath of God against sin will passover them once again. The final detail is that the religious leaders were set on killing Jesus, but wanted to wait until after the Passover celebration, yet, as we’ll see, God’s purposes for the two being connected override man’s plans.
This leads us into the anointing of Jesus. In this moment, where a woman comes to Jesus to pour out expensive perfumes on him, would be a situation in which Jesus’ disciples could act out Jesus’ words, and in a sense they kind of do. In response to this woman’s gift, the disciples say that the woman should have sold the expensive perfume and given the money to the poor. Which would seem like the right thing to do. And Jesus’ response that the poor will always be there, seems like a weird and selfish thing to say. Yet if we think so, like the disciples, we’ve missed the point. The woman’s gift, does several things, it anoints Jesus, as he says, for his death; something the disciples keep denying was going to happen. The gift, is an offering brought to Jesus from a heart that desires to serve him; a position of worship each one of us should hold. It wasn’t right for the disciples to deny or chastise this woman for her heartfelt desire to serve the Jesus, and it wouldn’t be our right to deny others the gifts and offerings they bring to Jesus.
The woman’s gift and Jesus’ response to the disciples, seems to be the final straw in Judas’ story, because it’s here that we learn that he makes a deal to betray Jesus. This is important, because it shows where Judas’ heart is, and later on his duplicity in eating with Jesus. A smaller detail is the fact that Judas’ payment is the fulfillment of prophecy from Zechariah 11:12-13, but also gives us an insight into Judas’ view of Jesus as nothing better than slave; because thirty pieces of silver was the covenantal price of buying a slave.
From here we move to the Passover meal, or Jesus’ last supper. We get three parts concerning this meal. First, Jesus’ command to prepare the meal is answered by his disciples. Secondly, Jesus’ speaks of a betrayal that will happen and which Judas questions. Thirdly the institution of communion with the eating of the bread and the drinking from the cup. What’s interesting is we see the whole of the redemption story in Jesus’ last supper. Like Jesus’ telling his disciples to prepare the meal, God commands the universe to be created. Like the betrayal of Judas, Adam betrayed the authority of God and caused the fall of humanity. God broke the body and spilt the blood of an animal as a stop gap measure to cover humanity’s sin and nakedness. It is the breaking of Jesus’ body and spilling of his blood that brings about the full covering of humanity and the full forgiveness of sin.
Finally we move away from the meal to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus is straightforward with the disciples. All of them will fall away. It wasn’t just Judas that would leave Jesus’ side, but everyone of the disciples will leave him that night. But there’s hope. The cross is not the end, Jesus speak of his resurrection and calls the disciples to meet him once again Galilee where this whole thing started. Jesus calls them sheep, that when the shepherd is struck the sheep will scatter, but they are still his sheep, and they are still called back to the fold. Peter denies that he will be like the others. No, he will be there even to death; to which the other disciples proclaimed the same.
These moments in time are linked together because they show the foolishness of the disciples. At the end they spoke about how they would stand by Jesus’ side, but they weren’t ready for what was to come. Though Jesus had spoken to them time and time again about his crucifixion, they had denied him at every step. Yet the woman accepted Jesus’ fate. She anointed Jesus for the work that he would do ahead and the disciples chastised her for it. They were not prepared, they were still so full of themselves.
And this is the trap that stands before each of us. I know what’s best, I am prepared, I can fight any battle, I am the alpha. But we don’t know what’s best, we are not prepare. There’s a military saying, “no plan survives the first contact of war (attributed to Carl von Clausewitz);” even with the best of information our plans will most likely fail. No, we cannot fight every battle, a force hell bent on the destruction of an individual will eventually succeed. It took almost ten years for the US military to track down and kill Osama bin Laden. He hid for a decade, but US military eventually found and executed him. And no we are not the alpha, there’s always a bigger fish in the pond, a stronger strongman to overthrow.
When we think we have it all laid out, that we are the best there is, it’s then that we fall the hardest. The disciples thought they had it, but they didn’t. The moment they chastised the woman, is the moment they sealed their fate. In that one moment the proved that their resolve to follow Jesus was not sustainable. The reason why, is because they would not submit and follow Jesus’ authority in their lives.
Because it’s Jesus who knows what’s best, it’s Jesus’ plans that are fulfilled. It’s Jesus that overcomes all battles, and it’s Jesus that is the true Alpha because he is the beginning of all things.
The trap that we must be aware of, that stands in front of all of us at all times, is the trap of that says I can do this a part from Jesus. But the reality is, as Jesus has said in the Gospel of John, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (15:5).” Jesus didn’t say we can do some things, or most things, he said we can do nothing.
This is why Paul wrote this in Philippians 4, “11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength (11-13).”
As Jesus’ disciples we must realize that Jesus is right. What he says and does is right. That means if he says I can’t do it, I can’t. If he says trust me, I have to. If he says it’s my way, I follow.
We must live under Jesus’ authority, because it’s exactly where we are supposed to be and if we think we can do it on our own, we’ll quickly learn we can’t and it’s that defeat that we come face to face with our own foolishness, just like the disciples did, but that’s next week.
For now, I want to challenge you to seek after God and ask him, am I planning outside of his authority? Am I thinking I know what’s best outside of his will? Do I think I’m strong enough for any battle? So I think I’m the Alpha? Seek God to uncover any areas that you are holding onto for your own authority. Ask that the Holy Spirit to both reveal those areas and deal with them.
Let us be a people who seek God’s authority over our lives, that when the battles come, we are strengthened, by his word and his Spirit and not by our own strength. Amen.
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