Who’s Calling the Shots?

In Matthew 26 we have the account of Jesus’ arrest and trial. There are many things we could talk about in this chapter but I want to focus on something that is said in the very beginning of the chapter. Here it is: Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”  Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Jesus predicts the timing of His arrest and crucifixion in verse 2. Then we read that the chief priests, who were also talking about arrest and crucifixion said “Not during the feast (Passover), lest there be an uproar of the people”. So the religious leaders said they didn’t want to arrest Him during the Passover, yet that is exactly what happened, just as Jesus told His disciples. It may have been men that arrested Jesus, held a trial and nailed Him to a cross, but it wasn’t men who “killed” Jesus. As Jesus said in John 10:18 in reference to His life, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Jesus was calling all the shots that surrounded His arrest and crucifixion. Jesus was in charge the entire time. The same is true today. There is nothing in our lives that happens outside of the sovereignty of God; the good things and the bad things. Even in the most difficult days of His earthly life, Jesus was in charge; and willingly suffered and laid down His life for the sins of the world. Now, that’s a Savior I can get behind and one who has my back at the same time. How about you??

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