Mark 14:1-2 (NIV): Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
The Passover, one of the three most holy days on the Jewish calendar, was near, only two days away. Even so, the attention of the chief priests and teachers of the law was not on preparing themselves for the celebration. Instead, they were focused on Jesus – how to arrest Him and kill Him, in order to rid themselves of Him once and for all.
The only indication that that they were even aware of the coming feast was the fact that they discussed that it would be a bad time to arrest Jesus. They feared that the people, many of whom considered Jesus a prophet or more, would riot.
These men who claimed to be among the holiest, most God-fearing people on the planet, had completely lost track of God in their anger and frustration at Jesus (ironically, the one who had been sent by God Himself to show them just how ungodly they really were!) Even on the very eve of their feast that celebrated God freeing their ancestors from bondage, they had no idea that they had allowed themselves to be bound up in chains far stronger and heavier than anything ever worn by those who had gone before them – chains of hatred, anger, pride, judgmentalism, coveting, and even murder. They were oblivious to the state of their own hearts.
It’s no wonder that Jesus‘ primary response to these men was sadness, accurately mirroring God’s own broken heart over them. It was just a few days earlier that Jesus had wept over the city of Jerusalem, crying out, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:42-44 NIV) It was just hours earlier that He had cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:37-39 NIV)
It was a real tragedy when these same men, after they had beaten Jesus, condemned Him, an innocent man, of blasphemy, and pressured Pilate to condemn Him to death, after they had seen Him hanging on the cross pouring out His lifeblood on the ground, after all that, they went to the temple and sacrificed their Passover lamb, feasting and celebrating, smug in their sureness that God was well pleased with them, and would surely pour out His blessing into their lives.
Father, it is easy to see the application to our own lives of this chapter from history. Help us to never get so caught up in our religion, our sacred practices and spiritual disciplines, help us to never feel so sure of our own righteousness that we completely miss the point where we have turned off of Your way. Help us to never have our eyes so focused on ourselves and our agendas that we end up actively working against You and Your agenda without even realizing it. Help us instead to walk in step with You, to keep our whole attention and the whole force of our will focused on what You are doing around us. Amen.