The Death and Resurrection of the KingSample

God is in control

“But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.’” (Matthew 26:5)

Matthew tells us about chief priests, teachers of the law and the elders of the people who plotted to kill Jesus. Later on we’ll read about Judas betraying Him, soldiers arresting Him, and the governor Pilate handing Him over to be crucified… All these people played a role in the events. However, in the end God was in control.

Jesus’ opponents were planning to arrest Him secretly, because they knew that Jesus was very popular with the people. If they would take hold of Him openly, this might cause a riot, which in turn might get them into trouble with the Roman soldiers responsible for keeping the peace in the country. For the same reason, they did not want to arrest Jesus during the Passover feast, when Jerusalem would be crowded with thousands of Jews attending the festival. However, their schemes did not work out as planned. Jesus had alluded to the fact that He was going to die during Passover, by mentioning this festival and His upcoming crucifixion in one breath in Matthew 26:2, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” And that’s exactly what happened. This little detail shows that God was in control! Jesus died during the feast. Tomorrow we’ll see how meaningful this is!