Wednesday of Passion

On Wednesday of Passion week, arrangements are being made for Jesus' betrayal.  But unbeknownst to the conspirators, Jesus is in still in control.

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Hey, everybody. Well, it's certainly been a full four days as I've prepared and recorded, edited and sent out these podcasts, and I imagine that I'm feeling just a small fraction of what Jesus and his disciples felt as they trudged back and forth to Jerusalem for this final passive a week again. If you've not listened to the previous podcast, I would encourage you to do so before this one I've mentioned before that Wednesday is a quieter day. As faras the record of the Gospels is concerned, but some very important thought provoking things happen. Let's take a look. This is Wednesday, the 13th of Nice on 30 a. D. This day is all about making arrangements for Jesus betrayal. Up to this point, it seems that the efforts of the Jewish leaders to entrap Jesus in his words have failed miserably. Every answer he gives just demonstrates his profound spiritual wisdom. And if you've read the Gospels before you know that they don't stand a chance at trying to grab and kill him secretly, even if they could catch him away from the crowds, he always miraculously slip through their grasp. I was always amazed at this ability. On occasion, the gospel writer would say that a group of people were angry with Jesus and they wanted to kill him. On one such occasion, it says that they were going to throw him off a cliff. But the gospel record simply states that while they were rushing to go to the brow of the hill at the edge of town, well, this is found in Luke. Chapter four, Verse 30 1st 30 says. But he passing through the midst of them when his way a sister hounding they had him one moment and then the next moment, Where did he go? He just walked through the middle of them and out of there grasp, so their efforts are frustrated to arrest him. And so when we come to Wednesday, this is the day that the pieces begin to come together for arresting and trying Jesus. The San Hedren developed their plot on Wednesday, and Judas offers his services as betrayer. But before it all, we're reminded that this is not happening as an accident of history. This was the plan of God that had been determined from eternity past and prophesized from the earliest days of the creation, and we're reminded of that by Jesus himself. His pick up with a story in Luke was 38 and the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him. So on Wednesday, Jesus did. As he had done on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, he came to town and began teaching in the temple. It's kind of amazing to me that the religious elites the chief priest describes in the Faris ease who were in charge of the temple allow him to continue teaching in the temple even while they conspire to arrest and kill him. Well, I believe that's a testimony to the fact that what they were doing was underhanded, an illegal. And what's also amazing is that Jesus continues to draw a crowd to teach, Taking in mind that the religious authorities had already told the people that they were supposed to turn Jesus over, considering that in two days after that, this crowd who had said Hosanna in the highest will now call for his death, and that is a testimony to the fact that Jesus is in complete control of the events of this week. He was in the temple every day teaching. So why did the crowd eventually turn on him? Well, they turned on him because of what he was teaching to them. Let's put it this way. If Jesus had wanted to prevent his arrest and crucifixion, he could have. He could have told the crowd what they wanted to hear. He could have just chosen to disappear. Quit coming to the temple. He didn't have to go there every day and exposed himself to danger. He could have gone to the temple and given positive sermons, feel good sermons. And he probably could have filled the 16,800 seat Coliseum of Lakewood Church in Houston with those kind of positive sermons. But he kept teaching the temple and teaching the truth, the harsh truth. He taught stuff to the Jewish people that they didn't want to hear. He taught them that they were not right with God just because of their nationality. He taught them that they needed to repent even as the gentiles needed to repent. And worst of all, he wasn't making any move to be the military savior that they wanted. They began the week thinking that he was the Messiah who would overthrow Rome, and now he's teaching about repentance and self sacrifice. So they began to doubt, and then eventually they began to feel disgust toward him. They had hailed him as the promised Messiah on Sunday, but now they were having buyer's remorse. Well, Matthew continues the story of Wednesday in Chapter 26 versus one through five, it says, And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, You know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the son of man is betrayed to be crucified. This is one of at least three times that Jesus told his disciples that he would be crucified. We find those instances, for example, in Mark, Chapter eight versus 31 through 33 it says in Verse 31. Then he began to teach them that the son of man must undergo, undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders. The chief priest describes and be killed and after three days rise again again in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter nine, first 30 through 32 in that, he says, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him. And after three days he will rise and the third prediction comes in Matthew, Chapter 20 versus 17 through 19 he says now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem on the way he took the 12 aside and said to them, We're going up to Jerusalem on the son of man will be betrayed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day, he will be raised to life. So when we call this a day of arranging for the betrayal, we're not just referring to Judas and the Sand Hedren working together to bring about Jesus arrest. We're including Jesus as well. He knows it's coming, and he is an agreement with the father in orchestrating and arranging these events Well. The story goes on by saying that the chief priests, scribes and elders were assembled together at the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas, and it says they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety. and kill him 1st 5 says. But they said, not on the feast day unless there being uproar among the people again. As the gospel writers note that Jesus was in complete control, they also note that the conspirators had no control. Here are the chief priest, scribes and elders of the people. They are gathered together in the palace of the high priest Caiaphas. These are the most important individuals in the nation of Israel. These individuals have more influence than anybody else in the country. These are individuals who likely all were part of the San Hedren, the ruling 70 who were like the Supreme Court of Israel. These were individuals who raised people up and brought people down. These were individuals who were instrumental in making and enforcing the laws of the country. But here they are secretly meeting to try and deal with one man and get rid of him. It says they consulted together to take Jesus by subtlety. They didn't want it to be a public affair. They wanted to kill him. And it says they said not on the feast day. Less. There be an uproar among the people. My friends, they are entirely out of any control of this situation. They want to arrest Jesus, but they don't want to do it on the feast day because they are afraid of a riot among the people. They remember the crowds hailing Jesus as Messiah. They know Jesus healed the sick and fed people with just a few loaves and fish. They know he is very popular and they don't want to riot because Rome doesn't like riots. Rome doesn't look kindly on the rulers that they have put in positions of power if they can't maintain order among the people. So they didn't want to arrest him on the feast day. Think about this a minute. What day was it that Jesus ended up being arrested on the feast day? It was after Jesus and his disciples had eaten their Passover feast meal and he went to the garden of Guest Semini. And it was there that he was arrested. They didn't want that happen. But that's exactly what did happen. They were trying to avoid an uproar of the crowds, and that didn't work out so well for them either. The Passover throngs of people were still there when he was crucified. Great numbers of them were at the spectacle of a trial before Pilot and as he eventually carried his cross through Jerusalem. So just as much as Jesus is in control of everything here, they have no control at all, though they think they do well. The next character in this drama is Judas. The San Hedren still didn't have a complete plan for how to get Jesus. So there's where Judas Iscariot comes in. He is one of the 12 central group followers of Jesus. He has been with this band of disciples for three years. They ate together. They sat at Jesus feet. As he taught. They were crowd control. When masses and multitudes of people gathered, they camped out together when no home was open for them to bunk in. Judas himself was a trusted member of the group. He was the treasurer. They had such confidence in him that they gave the offering money to him. He oversaw the dispersal of funds for food or for charity. But the Bible tells us that he was a false disciple. He was never genuine. He was just a good actor, probably even fooling himself well. Luke, 22 tells us, then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot being of the number of the 12. And he went his way and commune with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him unto them, and they were glad and covenant id together to give him money. Now, Matthew gives us a little more detail and says, and Judas said, What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you and they Covenant id with him For 30 pieces of silver, 30 pieces of silver was the price of a male slave, according to Exodus, Chapter 21 Verse 32. Some have calculated its present day value to be about $200. Zachariah, 11 13 sarcastically calls it a handsome price. It's a ridiculous prices what it ISS in a number of ways. It's ridiculous that the chief priests and Faris ease put such a low value on Jesus. It's ridiculous that Judas was willing to sell his conscience, his soul and his teacher for so little. But he did, and now the die was set. The events leading to the cross now march on with the certitude of the sun setting in the evening, so over six says. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them. In the absence of the multitude, Judas was an inside man who could skulk about in the dark and direct the arresting mob to secret meeting places where nobody was around. Now, if this were a movie, we would be concerned for the hero of this story. Jesus. We would think that he was in dire straits. We would worry that the villains of the story we're going to succeed. But we would know that the good guy always wins. So the heroes going to discover the plot and turn it on the villains heads think about this story is the hero already knows what is happening. In fact, he's in charge of the whole thing. Well, we'll see that narrative unfold on Thursday of Passion Week. Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we marvel at your sovereignty. You have the events of this world running like a finely crafted watch. And our Lord Jesus Christ was in control during all of his final days. Lord, since you can control all of that, help me to trust you with my life. Help me to rest in the knowledge that you are working all things together for good, for those who love you. And though sometimes it may not seem good, you've worked it all out. And all I need to concern myself with is to trust and abetting. Thank you, Lord. And I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.