Matthew 26:3, commentary and pictures

The chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people assembled together at the palace of the high priest Caiaphas to plan how to take Jesus, seeking an occasion to accuse Him and put Him to death. They determined not to use open violence but to seize Him secretly and by treachery, and to hold His trial quietly, because they feared a public tumult or uproar among the people. They feared the people because many who had witnessed His mighty works believed Him to be the prophet of the Most High and would have been greatly angered by and opposed any attack on His liberty. Their fear of open arrest was increased by the sympathy for Jesus that had grown among the people after Lazarus was raised.

They planned their secrecy with regard to the feast, lest action at that time cause an uproar, since the people would not permit harm to come to Him. They also decided that Lazarus must die, fearing his continued presence as a living witness to Jesus' power would turn public opinion against them and threaten their authority. To carry out the secret plan they sought someone to betray Him in the absence of the multitude and in a quiet place, and found Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas came to them while they were already assembled, directly from the table where he had been reproved; stung by the knowledge of his sin and provoked because his guilt was known, he refused to repent and planned revenge, and controlled by the spirit of Satan he acted like one bereft of reason in selling his Lord.

There Judas arranged the betrayal for thirty pieces of silver, so the rulers bought their Lord for that price. The plot arose from envy and jealousy. While honoring the prophets' tombs and claiming they would not have joined those who killed God's servants, they were planning to destroy the Son of God. The verse identifies these religious leaders as responsible for arranging the death of the innocent Christ, and their religious standing did not keep them from bearing responsibility for rejecting and killing Him.

There those given the privilege of receiving Christ as Saviour without money and without price refused that precious gift of more value than gold and silver, offered in constraining love, in a terrible action on their part as well as his. They knew the people were Christ's friends, and only that fear had kept them from accomplishing their long-held purpose to kill Him long before. In their assembly under Caiaphas after their hasty condemnation of Jesus, they would have executed Him at once, but the power to execute had passed from the Jews into the hands of the Romans, so the case had to be referred to the proper Roman authorities for final decision. They were anxious to hasten the trial and execution because the immediate celebration of the Passover would otherwise cause a delay of a week, during which Jesus would be kept in bonds, the intense excitement of the mob clamoring for His life would be allayed, a natural reaction would set in, the better part of the people would become aroused in His behalf, and in all probability His release would be accomplished, so they felt there was no time to lose.