Thirty Pieces of Sliver

My communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, Zechariah 11: 7-15. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.

My hope is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "Thirty Pieces of Silver." I read from Zechariah 11: 7-15. All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.

7 So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. 8 I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month.

But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too. 9 So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!”

10 Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the LORD was speaking through my actions.

12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the LORD.

 14 Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.

 15 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd…”

In your life, has there been a time when you made the same wrong choice repeatedly? While the propensity to make the same wrong choice is true for individuals, it can also be true of a people, and in our Scripture reading today, we learn the Jews were such a people. The LORD asked Zechariah to be both a good and bad shepherd to His people in his time. The Jews rejected Zechariah as their good shepherd, and paid him his wages, thirty pieces of silver. The LORD did not want their silver, and He asked Zechariah to throw the thirty coins into the Temple. What the LORD wanted instead was for His people to follow His good shepherd. This passage of Scripture also refers to a future time and a different good shepherd. In the future, Jesus takes the title, Good Shepherd, for Himself (John 10:11). When Jesus was betrayed to the leading priests by Judas, they offered him thirty pieces of silver. That was the same valuation offered by God’s chosen people for Zechariah and same wrong choice in rejecting the Good Shepherd, Jesus. Realizing his mistake, Judas threw the silver coins back into the Temple; nevertheless, the corrupt deed was done, and all parties were guilty of rejecting Jesus. This may seem shocking but not so much; sadly, it happens every day and for even lesser sums of money or things of value, the “thirty pieces of silver” human beings are willing to pay instead of following the Good Shepherd, Jesus. I imagine the emotional toll of being rejected was in addition to the physical torment He suffered prior to His death on the cross. We learn from these examples that we must keep our focus on Jesus as all of us are targets for Satan’s schemes to deceive us. As we break the bread and drink wine from the cup, we remember Jesus and the cost He paid to save us. He is the Good Shepherd we should follow and as the apostle Paul affirmed (Philippians 3:8), “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. We are overwhelmed by the emotional and physical suffering Your Son, Jesus, experienced in the events leading up to His death on the cross. All this was undeserved, yet He was willing to offer His life for us, and we honor and thank Him. Abba, Father, as we remember Jesus just now, we ask for renewed strength to keep on focus on Him as we live each day. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!