Tag Archives: Jewish Passover

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Bible Study, ,

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

“Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead, He withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where He stayed with His disciples.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, ‘What do you think? Isn’t He coming to the festival at all?’

But the chief priests and the Pharisees gave orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest Him. “John 11:54-57 NIV.

So, this is what happens when a person does the right thing! Since He brought a dead man back to life, He was considered public enemy number one. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, He was dangerous and an enemy of the state. They siphoned all their personal issues against Him into this apparently legitimate reason for having Him caught and brought to trial.

For Jesus, it was not a matter of if but when He would be executed. He had to be careful not to show Himself prematurely. He had to fit perfectly into His Father’s timetable and into the fulfilment of all the types and shadows and Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, so He remained out of sight until the appropriate moment.

The Sanhedrin had already decided that it should not happen during Passover because the situation was far too volatile (Mark 14:1, 2). Jerusalem would be filled with Jews from all over Israel and farther afield. Jesus was too well-known and popular to risk a riot at that time. Howvwe, it was Judas who forced their hand by betraying His whereabouts on the eve of Passover. They might not get another chance to grab Him when He was not expecting it.

According to John, they had issued an order to anyone who knew where He was to inform them. Unfortunately for them, Jesus was no ordinary fugitive. He was in charge. He would show Himself and give Himself up at the precise moment, no matter what their plans and instructions. There were things He had to do before He finally left His disciples. Whether the Jews thought they had Him in their power or not, was irrelevant. He had already made it clear to His followers that no-one could take His life from Him. He would lay it down for the sheep at the perfect moment.

So, He played cat-and-mouse with them. After raising Lazarus and creating a furore, He remained out of sight in a village off the beaten track. Were the ordinary people aware of the Sanhedrin’s intention? As the worshippers assembled in Jerusalem for the ritual preparations for the Passover, He was the subject of their conversation and the object of their curiosity. Where was He? Would He dare show Himself in Jerusalem during the Passover? Would He risk another public standoff with the Jewish leaders? Tongues wagged all over the city.

The “Jews” laid their plans and waited. They could arrest Him and keep Him in custody until after the Passover when the city returned to normal – so they thought. As long as they had Him safely locked up, they could breathe easier.

But God…. had other plans and Jesus was in on them, waiting on the Father to reveal His hand in His time. The Lamb of God has to die at the precise moment when the high priest raised the knife to slaughter the first sacrificial lamb that marked the beginning of the Passover ceremony. He had to ride into the city on a donkey as an indication of His claim to the throne of Israel, but not as they expected. He was asking for the allegiance of men’s hearts so that He could reveal the Father to the world through them.

Two kingdoms stood on the threshold of the greatest battle ever fought, the kingdoms of darkness and light, and the outcome was already determined from before the foundation of the world. Only Jesus knew what lay ahead and He was ready for it.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

MORE THAN

Bible Study, ,

MORE THAN

“After this He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:12-17 (NIV).

Really, Jesus! Was He just having “a bad hair day” or was there something more significant going on here?

The other gospels place this incident towards the end of His ministry; John puts it at the beginning. Did it happen twice — not likely? Was John  mistaken? or was there a reason for deliberately altering the chronology? It seems that chronology was less important to him than purpose.

There is no doubt in John’s mind that it happened but, once again, he interpreted this incident as much more that ridding the temple of greedy opportunists. Just as Jesus turned water into wine, symbolising the new life that would come to those who believe in Him in the wake of H,is death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, so He would purify His temple of greed and sickness and make it fit to be a dwelling place for the Father.

“The Jews responded to Him, ‘What sign do you show us to prove your authority to do this?’

“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.” John 2:18-22 (NIV).

Jesus’ response to the Jews’ demand was not a fabrication of John. Some of the false witnesses at His trial before the Sanhedrin referred to His words as a possible reason to crucify Him! “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’ Yet even their testimony did not agree.” Mark 14:58, 59 (NIV). Of course, they misquoted what He had actually said!

His retort was a veiled reference to what they, His interrogators, would do to Him but they would not succeed. He almost threw it out as a challenge. ‘You destroy this temple — me — but you won’t get it right. In three days, I’ll be back, and my very death and resurrection will give me the authority to do in the hearts of people what I am doing in the temple right now.’

John was careful to let his readers know that, at the time, not even His disciples understood what was going on. It was only on hindsight, after the resurrection, that all of this made sense to them. In contrast to the Jewish leaders, who persistently repudiated Jesus and His claims despite the evidence that pointed to the truth of what He was saying, His disciples believed in Him.

Time and again, as we travel through John’s record of this man’s extraordinary life, we are confronted with his challenge: ‘These people believed in Jesus. Will you?’ What Jesus did was much more than intervention to save the day. These were signs — pointers to His identity and His mission — to reveal the Father and to take us to the Father.

On the eve of His death, in the final tender moments with them before His arrest, He clarified for His mystified disciples what He was all about. ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,’ He told Philip, and ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,’ He assured them.

Have you come to the Father through Jesus yet?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.