Wednesday of Passion Week
This week leads up to Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection. While many people may be familiar with Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, very few are as familiar with the days in between. Jesus didn’t just sit around and do nothing until He was arrested. So, let’s look at some of the events and teachings of Holy Week.
Scripture Reading – Matthew 26:1-5 (ESV)
1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Several times during His ministry Jesus told His disciples that He was going to die. One of the most well known of these events is found in Matthew 16. Jesus asks the disciple in verse 15, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Just a few verses later we read that Jesus began telling them that, “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (v. 21).
Now on Wednesday, Jesus tells them specifically when it will happen, “after two days” or Friday. During His earthly ministry, Jesus voluntarily limited he use of His omniscience. In Matthew 26:3-4 the Father allows us to see that what Jesus just said was already happening. The enemy was at work trying to derail God’s plan. The pride and jealousy of the religious leaders drove them to premeditated murder.
But unknown to them, they were doing exactly what the Father already had planned. Something we need to remember today is that Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him and when it was going to happen. From the moment He was born in Bethlehem Jesus’ earthly life had been moving to this week. Jesus was fully aware of the pain and agony that awaits Him in two days. He knew He was going to carry the entirety of mankind’s sin.
Heavenly Father, we praise You that all things are in Your hands and in Your control. Men make their plans, but You thwart them. We praise you Lord Jesus that You chose the agony of carrying my sin. Halleluiah, what a Savior! Amen.