If we were to roll the tape back all the way to the
beginning, the idea of killing of Jesus actually begins in the mind of Satan
because of the jealousy he had even in the perfection of heaven. A war was fought with that as one of its
goals all the way back then. Satan
lost. He was thrown out of heaven. Satan determines the best way perhaps the
only way he can hurt God, is to hurt what God loves, namely us. So in the garden of Eden when Jesus foretells
the serpent biting the heal of Christ, Satan determines even then not to do
this directly, but instead to use us, the targets of redemption, to tempt us to
reject that redemption, and determine to kill Jesus on his behalf. It will not be Satan who rips Jesus apart
when the time comes. It will be mankind
who will hate Jesus so much, they will do it for him, slowly, and with great
malice. We were destined to be the
instruments of Jesus’ destruction. This
was the plan created and acted out by Satan and all the dark forces aligned
with him.
Fast forward to the live ministry of Jesus in Israel. Jesus teaches with authority, authority the
priests have not known, indeed no mortal man has ever known. He teaches purity and truth in a way no one
ever understood. Jesus loves so strongly
His love is tangible, it fills the air, rests in His eyes, and pierces you to
the depths of your very soul. And in the
connection to the will of the Father, and because of God’s so great love for
us, Jesus dares to heal the afflicted on the Sabbath day. This puts Him at odds with the ruling class. They teach the law absent of love, and do not
enjoy that absence pointed out by the loving actions of Jesus on our behalf. Instead of rejoicing at the miracles of
healing like the crowds did, they grumbled that healing could have waited until
after Sabbath as the law demands. But
the law never demanded a lack of love from us.
Instead it demands nothing but love from us. Were our actions always to be motivated by
love, we would already be keeping the ten commandments even better than we ever
thought possible. But this supposed
disobedience of the law by Jesus in showing love, and with His disregard for
the leadership of the church that Jesus Himself had created in the days of
Moses; it serves as the catalyst to feed the hatred of those who think
themselves in charge of the church of God and the faith of Israel.
Hatred grows.
Priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees unite in a plot to kill Jesus
for the sake of God’s church, and for the sake of order in Israel. In an irony of all ironies, it would not just
be some random mob who would finally kill Jesus, it would be the leaders of His
own church who would do it. And then, to
make it as painful as possible to God, the betrayal of Jesus would come from
one of His own disciples, one who was close to Jesus for the length of His
ministry, included in every miracle, and act of love, or sermon of
redemption. Yes, church leaders, and
“that guy” would wind up being the instruments of the torture and death of
Jesus. But acting against all of this,
was the love of the people for Jesus, who did believe in Him being the Messiah,
and loved Him because of what Jesus had done for so many of them. So many who walked now, who could never walk
before. So many with sight restored,
hearing restored, limbs restored, demons thrown out, and souls set free from
the slavery of sin. The masses loved
Jesus, even if for selfish reasons. And
the small group of conspirators had to be careful of killing Jesus lest the
fury of an angry crowd wind up killing them instead. That kind of thing had happened before.
So as the time draws close Luke sets the back stories and
preliminaries to the greatest and saddest event in the story of our
salvation. He picks up in chapter 21 at
the very end in verse 37 saying … “And in the day time he was teaching in the temple;
and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of
Olives. [verse 38] And all the people came early in the morning to him in the
temple, for to hear him.” A
pattern as to the whereabouts of Jesus begins to emerge. As His hour draws closer, he preaches in
public view in the daytime. But more
importantly at night He seeks the comfort of solitude in the Mount of
Olives. Had the Sanhedrin known about
this nightly routine to be with God, they would have quickly made plans to
catch Him alone right there, perhaps even killed Him there without witnesses or
trial. But that was not what scripture
had long since foretold. Yet this opportunity
was right under their noses, and they did not discern it. Satan knew.
You can bet he longed to see his plans accelerated right there, but was
unable to make them come out that way.
God was always in control.
Luke continues in chapter 22 in verse 1 and says … “Now the feast
of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. [verse 2] And the chief
priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.” Imagine, not just some random sect of low
level offended priests trying to break into the leadership; no rather, the
chief priests, the very pinnacle of leadership, and their lawyers looking for
ways in how they might kill Him. But
their actions had to be considered and tempered by the fear of an outraged mob should
they kill the One who that mob loved.
Ignorant people can still wield a sword.
And any chief priest might find himself skewered on the spear of an
angry Israelite should they be seen trying to kill the Messiah the mob loved,
even if they did not fully understand everything He said. Perhaps nor do we understand it yet. The priests must find a way to kill Jesus,
without being seen to kill Jesus.
Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “Then entered Satan into Judas
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. [verse 4] And he went
his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray
him unto them. [verse 5] And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. [verse
6] And he
promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the
multitude.” The time is short
now. And Satan enters into Judas
Iscariot to betray Jesus. Satan did this
himself. And what is missing in these
verses seems to be any sign of resistance on the part of Judas. I wonder, did he welcome Satan in? Did he even perceive it? Or are we humans so weak that possession by
demons and Satan is child’s play for them, and inevitable for us.
We modern Christians trust in the power of Jesus to keep
this from happening to us. But if we are
greedy, like perhaps Judas was greedy, do we hold the door open for dark forces
that Jesus would have otherwise shut to protect us. Or if we think God should be doing something
He has not, and we set out to “help” God do it, do we also force a door open to
demons that should otherwise be shut. Judas
took the money, that would argue for greed.
He agreed to betray Jesus in a secret alone time, that would argue for
not getting caught. And notice the chief
priests were “glad” to have Judas helping them out. They were glad to be bargaining with Satan in
the person of Judas. How often might you
be “glad” to be bargaining with Satan in the person of others and you do not
even know it, all because you are bent on actions God does not want you to
perform. The bigger fear being, that it
is Satan who has gotten in to you, causing you anger, stealing forgiveness,
accentuating all your base instincts, and perhaps you do not even see it. Or worse like the chief priests, believe you
are doing the will of God, when you are clearly not doing that will, only your
own will masquerading as the will of God.
Luke continues in verse 7 saying … “Then came the day of unleavened
bread, when the passover must be killed. [verse 8] And he sent
Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the
passover, that we may eat. [verse 9] And they said unto him, Where wilt
thou that we prepare?” Almost
time for the last supper. But have you
ever wondered where that upper room came from?
None of the disciples owned anything like that. It would not be held at the home of
Lazarus. So where did it come from? And more importantly, if His disciples had no
idea where they were holding this supper, then it would be impossible for chief
priests to grab Jesus while he was eating and alone with His closest followers. Notice too, Jesus only sends Peter and John,
His two most trusted disciples, to go to find the room for where the Passover
supper will be held. Judas holding the
money, might have been dispatched with others to secure the food they
needed. That too would deny him the
chance to figure out where to betray Jesus.
Luke continues in verse 10 saying … “And he said unto them,
Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall
a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he
entereth in. [verse 11] And ye shall say unto
the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the
guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? [verse 12] And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there
make ready. [verse 13] And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and
they made ready the passover.” Notice,
Jesus does not provide a name for the intended host of their Passover
feast. If Peter and John had spoken with
the other disciples, they only had a man with a pitcher of water to go on, no
names. And then the timing of meeting
that man would depend on Peter and John arriving in the city, not on Judas, or
any other disciple, only Peter and John.
Then they followed him, to a destination only the man carrying the water
was aware of. On entering the house,
they were to request a place for Passover, and the owner of the home would
welcome them into a large upper guest chamber that was already furnished for
them all. They would eat there. All things revealed to them in small
increments of time, none of it ahead of time.
As they followed the instructions of Jesus, everything unfolded as He
said.
They had no idea the secrecy was needed to keep the chief
priests from crashing through the door and killing them all alone and in
private. They had no idea that Satan
himself had entered into Judas one of the trusted and loved disciples just like
themselves. And Judas probably did not
know where the feast would be held. He
may have suspected back in Bethany at the home of Lazarus. That would make sense. Lazarus had the room. After all they never mention the name of this
host who gave them the room. Likely
Judas never knew him. Never would
suspect his generosity, and by the time he figures it out, he has no chance to
leave to betray Jesus, lest the other disciples figure out his plan too early
for him to act it out. Judas too has
some fear of what the others might do to him, if they knew he was planning to
be a traitor. Fear is the hallmark of
the enemy. Terror is in his
toolkit. Every time humans encounter the
angels of God, the conversation or message always begins with “Do not be
afraid”. If you worry or fear about
actions you take, about getting caught, about suffering the consequences, be
sure you are on the enemy’s path and heading to a destination he intends not
God. Secrecy might be another
indicator. Peter and John did not even
know why Jesus asked what He did. But
Judas knew full well, he must keep his evil intents secret. He must lie to the others to protect his
secret. For the truth would surely cause
pain, likely his own.
In the next part of this story in our next BLOG entry we
will examine the last supper. And even
throughout his account, Luke provides us with more details, and more context of
what went on during that event. And the
lessons there are meant for us even today.
But in reviewing the context Luke has already offered, perhaps the most
important lesson of these preliminaries, is to follow what Jesus says, and not
what we think on our own. For it is our
ideas that so often lead us on paths of the enemy, even when we are blind to
see it. Judas takes his own actions at
the behest of Satan. Peter and John do
what Jesus said. Judas is reassured by
the leadership of the church, that what he is doing is the highest form of
service to the church and the nation.
Peter and John are reassured by nothing, other than when they do what
Jesus said, they discover everything unfolds in small bits of time, not all at
once, but everything just like He said it would. It is not our confidence that insures what we
do is right, it is our humble obedience even when we are uncertain. It is our faith in Jesus to lead, and open
doors, when to us, everything looks impossible. But even more lessons were coming …
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