And I thought I did stupid stuff …
Okay, so I do, but it never ceases to amaze me when I come across accounts such as this as I read God’s holy book: “The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death.”
Amazement but not in a good way …
I can’t tell you how many times the same scenario has played out. It happened again this morning as I read the following text.
- Luke 22:1-2 (NASB)
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. [2] The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.
Don’t let these words escape our consciousness. Stop the movie, hit the pause, rewind if necessary before this entire scene disappears into the familiar shadows of another Sunday School story.
The reality of that moment …
I think every time I read this I just stop in amazement. I have been reading the Bible through for many years now, and I don’t think it changes. I just stop in bewilderment. It never loses it’s zing.
They knew jots and tittles but not Messiah …
The people who are holding the torch for truth, seeing to it that every jot and tittle is in place and waiting for Messiah King are now found looking for their best chance to murder him when he does come to provide salvation for this world.
And it gets better, or worse, I guess, as “they were glad and agreed to give him money.”
- Luke 22:4-5 (NASB)
And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. [5] They were glad and agreed to give him money.
Glad to pay …
They were very happy to pay someone to forward their plan of assassinating God’s deliverer.
Just one more thought from my morning reading …
They heard it from his own mouth. Yes, I am the Son of God.
- Luke 22:70-71 (NASB)
And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” [71] Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
Not trying to be overly dramatic here but we cannot allow this to be just another Bible story. It happened.
Maybe a bulleted list will help us keep this from disappearing into the zone of the familiar.
- Jesus came.
- The religious leaders thought, “Huh, he is a threat. I wonder how we can kill him and remove the threat.”
- Yes, sir, we will be more than happy to give you money to help us with our plan.
- Guilty as charged. The Son of God has openly admitted that he is the Son of God.
Our lesson …
Avoid the temptation to vilify the chief priests and the scribes and not see ourselves in the story. We can easily be them and often are. In fact this is how the human heart trends.
The default setting …
We transform our religion to fit the patterns and whims of our lives. We make it fit. Our religion becomes our religion, so much so that when God shows up we don’t know who he is, didn’t know he was there.
“What! God was here? Somebody shoulda’ told me.”
He stood in front of them and told them who he was but the concept of Messiah as a Savior and a seeker of sinners was too much for their spiritual receptors. There was no Holy Spirit teaching them the truth of the moment because they were self-taught.
Remember …
They had the truth, the true truth as Francis Schaeffer called it, and they had the true theology of the Old Testament. But the true truth and the true theology of Scripture had not shaped their faith. No. They were the shapers, not the ones being shaped. They knew the words but their intellectual wrangling of the words had not given them even the sight to see the Son of God in flesh and blood standing before them telling them, “Yes, I am the Son of God.” The God they served was unrecognizable to them.
Don’t think that it cannot happen to us.
End of dire warning.
