Matthew 26:5 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
We have seen and experienced some very unusual events during the past year. We gave up our freedoms without even a blink. We bowed to fear and political manipulation because those who spoke with reason were silenced, fired, threatened. Cities were burned, looted and taken over, and that here in the the United States. We see it other places in the world, but we don’t expect it to happen here.
Well, it happened. Many people in places of power came together to make this happen. Some plotted, and some just joined the band wagon. The evidence shows that those in power started five years ago to undermine the leader of the free world. And they succeeded. Now we have their mess to clean up.
But this isn’t the first coup to take place in history. There have been too many to count. But we have a coup happen right in out text. Jesus has been rising to the place of leadership without even trying, and the current leaders want Him gone.
But they have a condition to the execution of their plan: not during Passover! This is where their plan gets into trouble. They can’t control the crowds, and the crowds have a mind of their own. The crowds respond to a different set of criteria.
The crowds have been fed and healed by Jesus. They have witnessed God’s power again and again. They have heard teaching, some of it they have understood, some of it went right over their heads. But they would like more food and more miracles. And Jesus is unpredictable.
It is the unpredictability of people that gets the rulers in trouble. An opportunity of a lifetime presents itself to them. One of Jesus’ inner circle is willing to turn Him over to them, for a small fee. Capitalism works! And the leaders can’t help themselves. There might never be another opportunity like this again. And so they seize the opportunity, even though it violates their one condition.
Jesus is betrayed. Jesus is killed. End of story? Not even close.
You see, the religious leaders might have been successful at their plot, but they didn’t realize that their plot fit into a much larger story, one over which they had no control. They might have been able to change the ending of the chapter, but the story would continue toward that final conclusion, which has already been determined.
We don’t have to be worried about what happens in our country. The worst thing that can happen is that we get arrested and killed, just like millions of other Christians around the world. Persecution is not the enemy. Not trusting Jesus is.
Pandemics come and go. Political uprisings happen and then settle down. But Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. We must remember this. We must hold tight. And we must live as if today was our last day, and this opportunity to affect the Kingdom has results that last forever.
The Arnold Journey 