After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, "You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover. On that day the Son of Man will be given {to his enemies} to be killed on a cross." Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest lived. The high priest's name was Caiaphas. In the meeting, they tried to find a way to arrest Jesus without the people seeing it. They planned to arrest Jesus and kill him. The men in the meeting said, "We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don't want the people to become angry and cause a riot."
—Matthew 26:1-5
Key Thought
One of the key things we will notice throughout Jesus' journey through the Cross and on to his glorious return to his Father is his deliberate and purposeful control of these events. Jesus' crucifixion is not some horrible mistake. Jesus' death is not some horrible miscalculation on his part. The Cross is Jesus' commitment to our redemption and God's will.
Jesus does not face death blindly. He knows he is about to be rejected and treated with scorn. He knows he will be abandoned by those he loves most. He knows that he will face humanity's inhumanity alone. Yet he does it at his own pace, by his own will, and because of his deep love for us.
In contrast are the opponents of Jesus, the religious aristocracy and power base. They must scheme and plan to get rid of him. They must find an appropriate time to do him wrong, a time when no one else is looking because they are afraid. Interesting and pitiful at the same time. The one who will die goes purposefully to his death to redeem us and those who will murder him are afraid and scheming. Somehow the Evil One and those most aligned with him have some kind of premonition of their ultimate defeat and yet press the battle that ultimately ruins them. Just as they tried to prevent the discovery of an empty tomb that provided verification of Jesus' resurrection, their scheme to do Jesus in will make him the world's Savior.
Praise God!
Today's Prayer
Holy and righteous Father, thank you for frustrating the power of Satan through the weakness of the Cross. Thank you for taking our cruelest and worst nature and using it to redeem us. Thank you for Jesus and his willingness to die to save me so I can live with you forever. In the name of my Savior and Lord, who died to conquer death. Amen.
Today's Verses in Context
After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, "You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover. On that day the Son of Man will be given {to his enemies} to be killed on a cross." Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest lived. The high priest's name was Caiaphas. In the meeting, they tried to find a way to arrest Jesus without the people seeing it. They planned to arrest Jesus and kill him. The men in the meeting said, "We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don't want the people to become angry and cause a riot." Jesus was in Bethany. He was at the house of Simon the leper. While Jesus was there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume. The woman poured this perfume on Jesus' head while Jesus was eating. The followers saw the woman do this and became upset at the woman. The followers asked, "Why waste that perfume? That perfume could be sold for much money and the money could be given to poor people." But Jesus knew what happened. Jesus said, "Why are you troubling this woman? She did a very good thing for me. You will always have poor people with you. But you will not always have me. This woman poured perfume on my body. She did this to prepare me for burial after I die. I tell you the truth. The Good News will be told to people in all the world. And in every place where the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told. And people will remember her." Then one of the twelve followers went to talk to the leading priests. This was the follower named Judas Iscariot. Judas said, "I will give you Jesus. What will you pay me for doing this?" The priests gave Judas 30 silver coins. After that time Judas waited for the best time to give Jesus to the priests.Matthew 26:1-16
Related Scripture Readings
Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the philosopher of this time? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. This is what God with his wisdom wanted: The world did not know God through the world's own wisdom. So God used the message that sounds foolish to save the people that believe it. The Jews ask for miracles as proofs. The Greeks want wisdom. But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a big problem to the Jews. And the non-Jews think it is foolish. But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people that God has called (chosen)—Jews and Greeks (non-Jews). Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. — 1 Corinthians 1:20-25
Why are the people from other nations so angry? Why are they making foolish plans? Their kings and leaders joined together to fight against the Lord and against the king he chose. {Those leaders said,} "Let's rebel against God and against the king he chose. "Let's break free from them!" But my Master, the King in heaven, laughs at those people. — Psalm 2:1-5
That day was the day called Preparation day. The next day, the leading priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. They said, "Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, 'After three days I will rise from death.' So give the order for the tomb to be guarded well until after three days. His followers might come and try to steal the body. Then they could tell the people that he has risen from death. That lie will be even worse than what they said about him before." Pilate said, "Take some soldiers and go guard the tomb the best way you know." So they all went to the tomb and made it safe from thieves. They did this by sealing the stone in the entrance and putting soldiers there to guard it. — Matthew 27:62-66
Ⓒ 1996-2017 Heartlight, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in part or whole for commercial use without written consent. What Jesus Did! is written by Phil Ware. Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.
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—Matthew 26:1-5
Key Thought
One of the key things we will notice throughout Jesus' journey through the Cross and on to his glorious return to his Father is his deliberate and purposeful control of these events. Jesus' crucifixion is not some horrible mistake. Jesus' death is not some horrible miscalculation on his part. The Cross is Jesus' commitment to our redemption and God's will.
Jesus does not face death blindly. He knows he is about to be rejected and treated with scorn. He knows he will be abandoned by those he loves most. He knows that he will face humanity's inhumanity alone. Yet he does it at his own pace, by his own will, and because of his deep love for us.
In contrast are the opponents of Jesus, the religious aristocracy and power base. They must scheme and plan to get rid of him. They must find an appropriate time to do him wrong, a time when no one else is looking because they are afraid. Interesting and pitiful at the same time. The one who will die goes purposefully to his death to redeem us and those who will murder him are afraid and scheming. Somehow the Evil One and those most aligned with him have some kind of premonition of their ultimate defeat and yet press the battle that ultimately ruins them. Just as they tried to prevent the discovery of an empty tomb that provided verification of Jesus' resurrection, their scheme to do Jesus in will make him the world's Savior.
Praise God!
Today's Prayer
Holy and righteous Father, thank you for frustrating the power of Satan through the weakness of the Cross. Thank you for taking our cruelest and worst nature and using it to redeem us. Thank you for Jesus and his willingness to die to save me so I can live with you forever. In the name of my Savior and Lord, who died to conquer death. Amen.
Today's Verses in Context
After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, "You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover. On that day the Son of Man will be given {to his enemies} to be killed on a cross." Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest lived. The high priest's name was Caiaphas. In the meeting, they tried to find a way to arrest Jesus without the people seeing it. They planned to arrest Jesus and kill him. The men in the meeting said, "We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don't want the people to become angry and cause a riot." Jesus was in Bethany. He was at the house of Simon the leper. While Jesus was there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume. The woman poured this perfume on Jesus' head while Jesus was eating. The followers saw the woman do this and became upset at the woman. The followers asked, "Why waste that perfume? That perfume could be sold for much money and the money could be given to poor people." But Jesus knew what happened. Jesus said, "Why are you troubling this woman? She did a very good thing for me. You will always have poor people with you. But you will not always have me. This woman poured perfume on my body. She did this to prepare me for burial after I die. I tell you the truth. The Good News will be told to people in all the world. And in every place where the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told. And people will remember her." Then one of the twelve followers went to talk to the leading priests. This was the follower named Judas Iscariot. Judas said, "I will give you Jesus. What will you pay me for doing this?" The priests gave Judas 30 silver coins. After that time Judas waited for the best time to give Jesus to the priests.Matthew 26:1-16
Related Scripture Readings
Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the philosopher of this time? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. This is what God with his wisdom wanted: The world did not know God through the world's own wisdom. So God used the message that sounds foolish to save the people that believe it. The Jews ask for miracles as proofs. The Greeks want wisdom. But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a big problem to the Jews. And the non-Jews think it is foolish. But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people that God has called (chosen)—Jews and Greeks (non-Jews). Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. — 1 Corinthians 1:20-25
Why are the people from other nations so angry? Why are they making foolish plans? Their kings and leaders joined together to fight against the Lord and against the king he chose. {Those leaders said,} "Let's rebel against God and against the king he chose. "Let's break free from them!" But my Master, the King in heaven, laughs at those people. — Psalm 2:1-5
That day was the day called Preparation day. The next day, the leading priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. They said, "Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, 'After three days I will rise from death.' So give the order for the tomb to be guarded well until after three days. His followers might come and try to steal the body. Then they could tell the people that he has risen from death. That lie will be even worse than what they said about him before." Pilate said, "Take some soldiers and go guard the tomb the best way you know." So they all went to the tomb and made it safe from thieves. They did this by sealing the stone in the entrance and putting soldiers there to guard it. — Matthew 27:62-66
Ⓒ 1996-2017 Heartlight, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in part or whole for commercial use without written consent. What Jesus Did! is written by Phil Ware. Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.
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