What does Matthew 26:2 mean?

Jesus has concluded His significant teaching to the disciples (Matthew 26:1). Following an extended time in the temple teaching about and confronting the Pharisees, Jesus took the disciples to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3) and taught them directly about future events that would follow His death, resurrection, and return to heaven.

Now, though, Jesus returns His focus to the events of the week before Him. For the fourth and final time in Matthew, He tells His disciples directly that the Son of Man, meaning Himself, will be handed over to be crucified. He has been even more specific about what is to come in earlier statements (Matthew 16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19).

This is the first time, though, that Jesus connects His crucifixion directly to Passover. God commanded Israel to celebrate the Passover annually as a way of remembering how He saved them and brought them out of Egypt when they were slaves (Exodus 12). God's angel brought death to the houses of the Egyptians, but it passed over the houses of Israelites marked with the blood of a lamb.

The Passover celebration began each year with the killing of a lamb. This year during Passover, Jesus, the Lamb of God, will also be killed. Those covered by the blood of the Lamb will be saved from the wrath of God for human sin.

Jesus says Passover is coming after two days. Scholars debate the exact day of the week on which these events occurred, but the literal day of the week is not especially important for understanding what happens.