WEDNESDAY: THE PLOT AGAINST JESUS (April 1, AD 33)
Matt 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 21:37-22:2
An Uneventful Day
On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem in the Triumphal Entry. On Monday he cleansed the Temple and engaged with the Jewish authorities and teachers of the law.
Andreas Kostenberger writes, "By contrast, Wednesday is a rather quiet day—as it turns out, the quiet before the storm. There are no recorded controversies, though Matthew, Mark, and Luke each narrate the escalating plot of the Jewish ruling council—the Sanhedrin—against Jesus. We get the impression that their mind is made up and their verdict has been rendered even before they officially meet to discuss what to do with Jesus."
Wednesday seemed to be an uneventful day leading up to the most aweful day in history—the murder of God’s Son. Humanity plotted against God; God planned to redeem humanity.
Matthew 26:1-5 records,
When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."
Who Delivered Jesus Up for Crucifixion?
I grew up watching Law and Order. I loved watching detectives and lawyers tracing down the trail of facts and witnesses to uncover who committed a crime. I was often just as fascinated by the motives as I was the crime itself.
In the Gospels, it looks like everyone had a hand in the death of Christ. Leon Morris notes that Judas handed him over (26:5), as did the chief priests and elders (27:2), and the people of Jerusalem (Acts 3:13). And from another angle it was Pilate who delivered him up (27:26). Everyone is guilty of conspiring against Jesus. He came unto his own and his own received him not.
Yet we must not lose sight of the awe-inspiring reality that what the chief priests, elders, and so many others meant for evil, God purposed for God. Paul tells us in Romans 8:32 that God the Father "did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all." Who "delivered up" Jesus? Many conspired against God. Many plotted for evil. The chief priests and elders, Judas, the people of Jerusalem, and Pilate. There is a sense in which we sent Jesus to the cross for our sins. There is a sense in which Satan plotted the death of Christ.
Here’s the great hope though. The whole world and its king plotted against God's King. The world plotted against God. But God had a plan for the world. Amidst all of the plots of sinful humanity and Satan himself, God had a plan of redemption from before the foundations of the world were laid.
"It is God who acted on Calvary. He! He who acted there is the One who is going to give us all these other things. And I know and am certain of this, because of what he has already done there! God acted through men, through the instrumentality of men, but the action was the action of God.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
So on an uneventful day--the Wednesday leading up to Jesus' death--the chief priests and elders were plotting to deliver Jesus up because he threatened their influence and authority. They thought they could take control. But even amidst their plots against Jesus, God was at work delivering up his Son for you and me.
And it wasn't just the Father (see Eph. 5:2). God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit planned from eternity past to redeem humanity.
Reflection
- When you don’t know what tomorrow holds, do you remember who holds tomorrow?
- How do you put too much confidence in your own plans?
- Do you have an unhealthy fear of the plots of an evil world?
- How should God's plans in Christ for us encourage us in 2-3 above?