What does Matthew 26:3 mean?

Matthew's change of focus shows that Jesus' declaration in the previous verse—that He would soon be captured and crucified (Matthew 26:1–2)—was not an empty prediction. Elsewhere in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the people have gathered to discuss the very same thing.

The Jewish religious leaders have wanted Jesus gone for quite a while now. Matthew described their eagerness to destroy Jesus back in chapter 12 (Matthew 12:14). Various earlier plots to arrest Jesus stalled out because many of the people clearly respected Him and thought of Him as a prophet of God (Matthew 21:45–56).

Still, Jesus had so thoroughly and publicly condemned and humiliated the religious leaders that they felt the need to do something soon. This gathering at the home of the high priest does not likely include the entire ruling body known as the Sanhedrin. Matthew reveals it does include the chief priests and some of the lay leaders known as the elders, in addition to the high priest himself.

Matthew and John (John 11:49) name the Jewish high priest at this moment as Caiaphas. Luke mentions Annas (Luke 3:2). It is likely that both men were thought of as high priest during this time. Annas, Caiaphas' father-in-law, had been removed from the office by secular authorities in A.D. 15. Israel's law, though, said the high priest's term could only end in death, meaning that many Jewish people may have continued to recognize Annas as the "real" high priest, as well.