Scripture:
Matthew 26:1-5 (ESV)
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, whose name was Caiaphas, and
plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But
they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the
people.”
Devotional:
Jesus had to go. The
Pharisees and chief priests wanted Jesus out of the picture for good. After all He was changing everything. Jesus challenged them to their very
core. Status quo had changed and Jesus
was to blame. By getting rid of Him they
could go back to the way it was. They
wouldn’t have to give up any power or make any life changes.
Do you feel that way sometimes? What challenges you? What is it that you might be fighting
against? We tend to like the way things
are. We might have power, prestige,
money that we don’t want to give up.
Maybe we have something special we just love. Maybe it is our way of life. Whatever it is we like it. Then all of a sudden Jesus comes along and
threatens it all. So we think…
For years we lived in Senoia. We had a house I loved. After all I designed an addition, it had a
great private yard. To me it was almost perfect. I couldn’t even think about moving. All of a sudden out of nowhere we are
moving. Long story short I had my view
of what was best. I didn’t want to
change. God wasn’t going to force a
change on me, or my family. In fact over
the years He graced us and blessed us in our home. However, when it was decided to move I found
something better.
God has what is best in store for each of us. It is when we are stuck where we are that we
miss out. Jesus comes along and we shout
out that He must go. I like it the way
it is. It is perfect, so I thought. We have a choice to make. We can accept what Jesus has to offer or keep
things status quo. We can settle for
what we think is best. The other option
is to accept Jesus’s best for us.
The chief priests thought Jesus had to go. They crucified him. What will you do?
