Matthew 26:31, commentary and pictures

On that night as He led them toward the Mount of Olives in deep sorrow toward Gethsemane, Jesus told them that before morning all twelve would stumble because of Him and desert Him and be dispersed. The Shepherd is Christ Himself, and His smiting is the suffering laid upon Him for transgressed law in His betrayal, rejection, condemnation and crucifixion, with the scattering of the sheep as its foretold result. This was fulfilled when the disciples who had pressed close about Him in triumph fell back to follow at a distance, then forsook Him to the cross and were left as sheep without a shepherd, helpless, disappointed, grieving and unable to recall His warning, until after His death they were rallied and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Though He knew they would forsake Him when He most needed their sympathy and prayers, He spoke not in rebuke but in pity to prepare them and keep their faith from dying, joining the warning at once to comfort that He would break the tomb, rise and gather them again and go before them into Galilee. Their denial of His word shows they did not know themselves and trusted in their own strength, with Peter's confident vow to die with Him and his swift failure standing as warning that self-confidence must give place to self-distrust, heart-searching and crying to the Shepherd to keep His sheep.

Words and Setting

After the hymn Jesus led the disciples out of the city gate toward the Mount of Olives and began to descend, crossing the brook Kedron on the way to Gethsemane. He spoke in deepest sadness, with sorrow and anguish weighing on Him before His suffering. In that place and hour He foretold that His disciples would be offended because of Him and scattered when the Shepherd was struck, in fulfillment of the prophetic word about the Shepherd and the flock.

All ye shall be offended this night means that on that very night all would stumble because of Him, desert Him and be dispersed. The stumbling includes all twelve, not only the betrayer and not only Peter as denier. The scattering of the sheep means His followers would be dispersed when the Shepherd was struck.

For it is written invokes the written prophecy of the shepherd being struck and the sheep of the flock scattered. Jesus applied that prophecy to His own suffering and to their abandonment of Him. He used Zechariah's prophecy of the shepherd being struck and the sheep scattered to foretell their failure and scattering that night.

The Shepherd is Christ. The striking is the suffering that falls on Him because of transgressed law. That suffering includes His betrayal, trial, rejection, condemnation and crucifixion.

He spoke with full foreknowledge, reading the future of the disciples as an open book. He knew He was about to be separated from them, betrayed by Judas, bound and left in the hands of wicked men. He knew He would endure humiliation, insult, mockery, spitting in His face and blows without exercising His power to break free. Yet at the word Whom seek ye an unseen power had caused His captors to fall helpless to the ground. He knew His disciples would be overcome by fear and fail Him that night, when His betrayal and death would leave them without His comforting presence.

Scattering Fulfilled

The scattering was fulfilled in a sharp reversal from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the humiliation toward Calvary. At the ride into Jerusalem they had pressed close about Jesus with joyful hosannas and palm branches, raised to the highest pitch of expectation and feeling highly honored to be connected with him. In his humiliation they followed him at a distance, withdrawn from him, filled with inexpressible grief and disappointed hopes. That withdrawal is what it means for the sheep to be scattered when the Shepherd is struck down.

Even while following at a distance they still held faint hope that he would at the last moment manifest his power and deliver himself from his enemies. When they saw their Master allow himself to be taken without delivering himself, they questioned why he allowed it and why he did not break free. Though at the word Whom seek ye an unseen power had caused his captors to fall helpless to the ground, he endured betrayal by Judas, bonds, humiliation, insult, mockery, spitting and blows without using his power, and they doubted whether he could be the world's Redeemer. At the cross they left the scene carrying away his fainting mother.

When Jesus was taken from them and nailed to the cross they were left as sheep scattered without a shepherd, a helpless, disappointed and discouraged company. Confused and doubtful in grief, they could not recall his warning about what would happen. Yet their loss made them feel more deeply than ever how much they loved him, valued him and needed him. That condition of hopelessness and conscious helplessness lasted after the Lord's death until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Then the believers rallied and were transformed in character and united in Christian love. They went forth as witnesses for the truth with no weapons but the Word and Spirit of God to triumph over all opposition. Though without wealth and counted by the world as mere ignorant fishermen without earthly honor or recognition, they became heroes of faith whose words of divine eloquence and power shook the world. The suffering of the innocent Redeemer stands joined to the punishment awaiting those who persist in sin. Jesus foresaw that the disciples' faith would be sorely tried by coming persecution for believing he is the Anointed One, being put out of the synagogue, imprisoned and put to death, with Stephen as the first to win the martyr's crown.

Comfort and Warning

Though he knew they would all forsake him that very night when he most needed their sympathy and prayers, their confidence resting on their own strength rather than on God's help, their weakness and lack of understanding moved him to sympathy and sorrow, not to rebuke. He read the future of his disciples as an open book, knowing he was about to be separated from them and leave them without his comforting presence, as sheep amid wolves ready to tear and devour, and he sought to prepare them for the ordeal and for his bodily absence. He foresaw that their faith would be sorely tried by coming persecution for believing he is the Anointed One, being put out of the synagogue, imprisoned and put to death, with Stephen as the first to win the martyr's crown, yet as the shepherd of the sheep he did not consider his own human and divine suffering and agony in Gethsemane and on the cross.

The prediction was part of his repeated instruction about his suffering and death and resurrection, spoken beforehand to prepare them for that time, to give them light amid darkness and to keep their faith from dying when he died, and to keep them from hopeless discouragement, so that when it came to pass they would believe. Because he knew the offense would come when they saw their Master betrayed by Judas, bound and left in the hands of wicked men, enduring humiliation, insult, mockery, spitting and blows without exercising his power to break free, though at the word Whom seek ye an unseen power had caused his captors to fall helpless to the ground, he warned them to be on their guard and not yield to temptation. They would question why he allowed himself to be taken and why he did not deliver himself, and would doubt whether he could be the world's Redeemer, for Satan desired to have them that he might sift them as wheat.

He did not leave them comfortless nor deceive them with false hope, but joined the scattering prediction at once to comfort, warning them of his absence and promising that after rising from the dead he would go before them into Galilee, giving them hope and calling them to trust rather than fear. The Shepherd is Christ, and the striking is the suffering that falls on him because of transgressed law, yet his concern remained for his disciples, whom he would gather again and comfort with assurances of his care. He would break the fetters of the tomb, his love would not fail, he would rise, and he bade them not let their hearts be troubled but believe in God and in him, with the promise of many mansions in his Father's house and his return to receive them to himself, even giving them assurance of forgiveness before the denial.

Their denial of his repeated statement, despite their former loyalty when many were offended at the bread of life at Capernaum and despite their vehement self-confident protests of loyalty unto death, proves they did not know themselves and were unprepared for the test, and will learn their weakness when temptation overtakes them, needing heart-searching, self-distrust, deeper faith, and crying to the Shepherd to keep his sheep. Peter's confident promises and claim of loyalty, even vowing to die with Jesus, illustrate the danger of trusting in oneself, for confident promises could not keep him from denying Jesus, and the disciples, especially Peter, trusted in their own loyalty and could not believe the warning because they did not know their weakness. Peter's failure when mocked and arrested and when opposition arose shows that self-confidence and self-righteousness are dangerous and that Christ's warning should be heeded. It occurred amid Satan's attack, for Satan would test Peter and desired to sift them as wheat, but Jesus sorrowfully warned them and had prayed that Peter's faith would not fail and that after restoration he would strengthen his brethren, even while Peter slept when Jesus needed prayer.

The betrayal, trial and crucifixion belong together as a pattern for how people may treat those who bring God's message, when doubts, bitterness, wrath and hatred take hold and open human hearts to that influence. A frenzy stirred by Satan can then turn people against one another and against the messengers.