I have a few questions concerning these guys.What were they doing out so late?!?
Matthew 26:3-5 tells us, '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."'
Which leads us to ask why they did it... literally just after the feast?
Wouldn't that still cause an uproar?
Maybe they decided that that... is what they wanted.
So what about these Pharisees?
I think so many things were going on during this night that it is impossible to only focus on this group of religious leaders.
Because there was more going on around them.
The real question we should be asking is, 'What about the Passover?'
The Passover.
This is Maundy Thursday after all... the night Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples.
The night He washed their feet.
The night he taught them for the last time.
The night he instituted the Lord's Supper.
The night... he was betrayed.
The Passover night.
You mean the thing with the blood on doors and the angel of death?
Yep.
Let's take a look at what started this whole ordeal...
Exodus 12:1-14
'Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.' (NKJV)
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. -Exodus 12:21 (NKJV)
This Passover event is THE event, God tells Moses that the new calendar will begin with this event... it will be the first month of the Jewish year, on the tenth day you will celebrate this ritual.
On this day, there will be a lamb.
A perfect lamb... one without blemish or defect.
Israel is to eat of it's flesh.
With unleavened bread and bitter herbs... What does this mean?
Well in order to eat lamb... you really need to have the taste for it. Me personally, I love lamb chops... but there are many in my family who absolutely hate the taste of lamb... On top of that, there is no Montreal seasoning, there is no lemon zest, there is no butter or gravy... it's dry roasted lamb, bitter herbs... so it's not going to be too delicious.
And unleavened bread? Well, it is something similar to a tortilla... dry.
Tasteless.
I don't know about you, but this feast isn't sounding too delicious.
And then there's the blood. Poured out as a sacrifice, as a marking, as a cover up. They are to paint this blood on their doorposts.
I can imagine the fathers of all of these houses having to explain this to their kids... after they fell in love with their new pet lamb. These families took care of their lamb for four days, taking it in, naming it most likely.
Because I mean... why wouldn't you? A kid with a new pet? It's getting a name.
Fluffy most likely.
And then on the fourth night the father 'takes Fluffy the lamb' out for a 'walk'. His kids want to come along... and in the backyard the father plunges a knife in the throat of the lamb and rips it across... killing it and catching the blood in a basin.
The kids... now need psychotherapy.
The father is given the task of explaining this... and to be honest he doesn't know why.
He has blood on his hands.
He has just painted his doorposts and lintel with this blood.
And he doesn't know why he had to do this... God left the explanation out.
Shouldn't God know who are his servants and just pass over them?
Why the ritual?
Why the shedding of blood?
God wants every generation to remember this.
The day he brought Egypt to ruin and saved all of Israel.
Well hold on... the plague only took the first born... not all of Egypt.
The first born.
There is a theme of the first born throughout the entire Bible.
It's a major historical theme.
The firstborn was the insurance. It was their duty and job to care for the family in the absence of the father... in the absence of provision... they were the provider.
For Egypt, it was the same custom... but for one particular family... it was complete devastation.
Pharaoh was believed to be the very son of the god Ra. And Pharaoh's son was looked at also as a son of the god Ra... insurance for the line to continue. Pharaoh's son was actually looked at as more important than Pharaoh himself.
Without a son to continue the line... Egypt would be without the presence of their god.
The truth should hit us pretty hard... without a son to sacrifice his life... WE would be without the presence of the one true God.
And it is this system that God decides to end.
This system God passes through.
But he passes over those who have the blood painted on their doors.
This is the LORD's Passover.
"And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning." -Exodus 12:22 (NKJV)
So back to the Pharisees... on another eerie night like the one in Egypt so long ago.
This would be a night where another lamb would spill blood.
As tradition would hold, the people were to celebrate the Passover feast and then go inside... and stay inside for the night... not leaving until morning.
Yet Jesus decides to go out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
And the very teachers, keepers, of the law and of the rituals are not with their families... are not inside... are not even celebrating the feast... the Pharisees are outside of the temple making a deal with thirty pieces of silver.
Again, why were these guys out so late?
Why do they choose this night... this late hour to make their move?
On a holiday.
I believe God wanted to show us what he was doing ever since Exodus... he wants us to see the parallels and the paradoxes... he wants us to know that this Jesus... is His firstborn... his one and only... and he is about to be sacrificed for all people. His blood is going to be spattered on wood framing, not a door post, but a cross. His blood is going to be poured out... His blood is going to be on the Father's hands.
Skipping ahead we read of Pilate trying to free Jesus by putting him up against Barabbas.
'Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.' -Matthew 27:15-18
And just after this in verse 20, the text says:
'But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.'
The chief priests and who?
The elders.
'Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.' -Exodus 12:21 (NKJV)
Pick out.
Choose.
Take a lamb for yourself and kill it.
Israel actually chooses Jesus of Nazareth. The elders actually choose Jesus Christ... to be the lamb.
Another term for elders is fathers.
There is blood on the fathers' hands.
'When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”' -Matthew 27:24-25
Pilate washes the blood from his hands.
There is blood on the crowd's hands.
And if we allow the statement the crowd makes to sink in to us...
"His blood is on us and on our children."
We realize it truly is.
And how thankful we should be that it is.
Without Jesus' blood being on us... we are still slaves to sin.
As Christians, most of us probably do not celebrate the Passover feast, or the remembrance ritual of what God did to bring Israel up out of Egypt... but we do celebrate a different practice.
The Lord's Supper or Communion.
This was a new practice that Jesus created on the night of the Passover, and He said to do it in remembrance of Him.
It's no longer about remembering Egypt... it's about remembering a different kind of bondage... a bondage to sin... a bondage that Christ is redeeming us from.
This is my body... I am the Lamb of God. Just as you would eat of the lamb... so eat of this bread in remembrance of Me.
This is my blood... poured out... painted... shed... Just as you would have blood on your hands after killing the lamb, so you will with my blood... for the LORD is about to Passover your sins.
And God HAS passed over our sins.
Passover does still mean something to us all... if we allow ourselves to see the connections of a story so long ago to a story 2000 years ago.
Jesus has come to put blood on our hands. To erase our debts. To cover up. So that when He sees us... His justice, His righteous judgment will pass over us.
The Lamb took the fall for us.
So about those Pharisees... Did they know what they were doing?
'Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.' -Luke 23:34
Were they forgiven? Did they seek the truth behind what they did? Why did they do it? Was it God's sovereign force... or was it their own free will of jealousy and hatred for a man taking power over the people away from themselves? Were they so legalistic that they viewed themselves as superior?
Sometimes we view the Pharisees as such bad people... yet we tend to live lives that closely resemble their actions.
We judge people.
We look down on people.
We think of ourselves as superior.
Whether we do it on occasion, all the time, or fighting that mindset off constantly to live humbly... we all have the thoughts come across us.
We have to remember...
The adulterer didn't kill Jesus.
The thief didn't kill Jesus.
In fact the thief asked Jesus to remember him.
The murderer didn't kill Jesus.
The rapist didn't kill Jesus.
The liar didn't kill Jesus.
The false witnesses kept changing their story and couldn't fault Jesus.
The drunkard didn't kill Jesus.
The drug dealer didn't kill Jesus.
The war lord didn't kill Jesus.
Jesus died for all of those people.
But...
It was the religious who killed Jesus.
The pastors and priests of the day.
The morally superior people.
The rich people.
The 'good' people.
They killed Jesus.
And Jesus died for all of them too.
So when the question is asked... what about the Pharisees?
I want to ask, what about ourselves?
Let us live Humbly.
Loving Mercy.
Doing Justly.
After all...Jesus is the narrow door.
Because of the Lamb's sacrifice.
Because of the blood of Jesus being poured out...
The Father has been painting...
There's blood on the Father's hands.
And there's blood on the doorposts of the Universe.
-----
Nathan Bryant
Is a student of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. Majoring in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology, he has a combined passion for unity and discipleship in the global church. Nate is a crazed sports fan, he enjoys college football and playing fantasy football. He also enjoys watching baseball with friends. He works as an Admissions Counselor and Resident Assistant at Ozark. Nate is unashamedly a Starbucks addict. Yay Coffee!
Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.
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