The Word This Week
John 12:1…
Now the Passover of the Jews drew near, so Jesus made His way toward Jerusalem for the final time.
Unbeknownst to all the hundreds of thousands streaming into the city for this Passover, the Lamb of God was coming to offer Himself for their sin.
It was reported at this particular Passover 250,000 lambs were sacrificed – so at a ratio of about one lamb for ten people, that means there were approximately 2.5 million people who ventured to Jerusalem at that time. The city would have been absolutely packed.
None of them had any idea what was about to unfold in this week of weeks in human history.
There was one exception.
On His way up to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped by Bethany, where He had very recently raised His good friend Lazarus from the dead, after four days in the tomb. It was an incredibly wonderful and amazing miracle, and all who were present when Lazarus walked out of the tomb were still buzzing with excitement.
Of course we know when informed what Jesus had done, the Sanhedrin was buzzing as well, not with excitement, but disdain. They handed down a death sentence upon Jesus and ordered the people to report Jesus’ location so they could arrest Him and kill Him.
Now we read they were so incensed about this reported miracle they also sought to kill Lazarus, whose only crime was being raised from the dead by Jesus.
Their anger and vitriol toward Jesus would lead them now to fulfill scripture of His willing sacrifice for all mankind. They were – in a sense – unwitting accomplices to God’s plan from eternity past to pay in Himself the price for the sin of mankind.
None of them had any idea what was about to unfold THIS Passover week, but Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel informs us the Sanhedrin indeed wanted to kill Jesus, but not the week of the Passover because of how many people were there, and they may rise up in anger. They really were cowards. It is a terrible thing when cowards think they are in control of events.
In reality they had no control whatsoever. Only Jesus did.
Pastor Bill
Now the Passover of the Jews drew near, so Jesus made His way toward Jerusalem for the final time.
Unbeknownst to all the hundreds of thousands streaming into the city for this Passover, the Lamb of God was coming to offer Himself for their sin.
It was reported at this particular Passover 250,000 lambs were sacrificed – so at a ratio of about one lamb for ten people, that means there were approximately 2.5 million people who ventured to Jerusalem at that time. The city would have been absolutely packed.
None of them had any idea what was about to unfold in this week of weeks in human history.
There was one exception.
On His way up to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped by Bethany, where He had very recently raised His good friend Lazarus from the dead, after four days in the tomb. It was an incredibly wonderful and amazing miracle, and all who were present when Lazarus walked out of the tomb were still buzzing with excitement.
Of course we know when informed what Jesus had done, the Sanhedrin was buzzing as well, not with excitement, but disdain. They handed down a death sentence upon Jesus and ordered the people to report Jesus’ location so they could arrest Him and kill Him.
Now we read they were so incensed about this reported miracle they also sought to kill Lazarus, whose only crime was being raised from the dead by Jesus.
Their anger and vitriol toward Jesus would lead them now to fulfill scripture of His willing sacrifice for all mankind. They were – in a sense – unwitting accomplices to God’s plan from eternity past to pay in Himself the price for the sin of mankind.
None of them had any idea what was about to unfold THIS Passover week, but Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel informs us the Sanhedrin indeed wanted to kill Jesus, but not the week of the Passover because of how many people were there, and they may rise up in anger. They really were cowards. It is a terrible thing when cowards think they are in control of events.
In reality they had no control whatsoever. Only Jesus did.
Pastor Bill