Passover is coming...

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, who was called Caiaphas, and took counsel together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be a tumult among the people." Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. - Matthew 26:1-16

What a marvelous phrase, "...the passover is coming...". Standing before the disciples was the Passover Lamb. The One who according to the Exodus was to shed His blood to save the first born sons from death. One whose blood was placed on the doorposts to mark those who trusted in Yahweh and belonged to the people of God. In like manner the Son of Man has come to do the same. To cover the children of God, to passover their sins, to redeem them from slavery, and bring them into the Promised Land. In Christ's death, burial and resurrection, our sins are forgiven. They are no more.

The leaders, on the other hand, sought His death for a different purpose. Silence is what they wanted. They enjoyed, like all of us, their sin and hypocrisy. They wanted their world to remain and to not see that they were suffering in bondage. Like their ancestors in Egypt, they wanted to return or stay in Egypt and enjoy the food in the midst of bondage. They could not believe that what they were pursuing was terminal. They worry of course about the opinions of the people. But what the people were wanting was what Christ offered through His death: mercy and grace.

Unfortunately, like today, His followers, those closest to Him, misunderstood Him. They thought His ministry was still political. He was there for the poor and mistreated. So when a woman comes and christens His body with fine oil, the disciples are angry that He does not wish for the woman to care for the poor first.

He is not a political Messiah though. He is a Shepherd of all His people. Both the harlots and Nicodemus. Zaccheus and Simon the leper. He came for all people and the riches and welfare He brings is for all. Not the zealot alone or the sinner by themselves, but the whole of humanity.

In the same way, when Christ does not fulfill our expectations, we betray Him. We sell Him for whatever we can get. We want the real Jesus to go away and replace Him with a more likable, kid-friendly version. The baby Jesus in golden diapers instead of the bruised and broken One dying on a cross. The smiling healing Jesus who cuddles with children, not the Prophet who cries "Repent and believe the Gospel." The One who brings blessings, not the One cursed on a tree for our transgressions. Because sin should not be fun or pretty. It is messy and ugly. It bruises and cuts, crowns with thorns and scourges with whips.

It is His death and those cuts that brings the blood which frees us and washes us clean. The mess and wretched nature of our lives is remade new in the death of the Son of Man for all humanity. It was for you that He came at the Passover to gather His people. Even if it was for thirty pieces of silver, even the sins of those who arrested Him were to be bought on that cross. If only they had known.

TW