What\'s Your Mission?

Matthew 26:1-19

Back in Chapter 24, Jesus\' disciples asked two important questions: 1) when would the temple be destroyed and 2) what should we look for as a sign that you are about to return? Jesus answered in a surprisingly frank way, giving some general signs that will grow more rapid and intense as the time draws near, and some specific signs to look for in the final stages. He also warned His men of three things: 1) it\'s going to be a while, 2) stay focused on Me and don\'t get drawn off and 3) you\'ve got a job to do while I\'m gone. But now, like waking from a vision or dream, Jesus brings their focus back to the present, as the rapidity and intensity of events leading to His crucifixion draw near.

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1 - 2

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From casting a wide net about a far distant future, Jesus brings His men back to the reality of today, which is really where we should all live. We need to know God\'s big battle plans, but the important thing for us is the mission of the day.

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Jesus was laser-focused on the crucifixion. He said \"you know.\" Jesus told the disciples about what would happen on numerous occasions. In Chapter 16, for instance, He told them specifically about who would try to murder Him and that He would suffer but would be raised. The whole thing should not have been a surprise, but it was.

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How often do we listen to God with filters over our ears? We hear what we want to hear, not what God is saying. God says \"I will fill you with power\" and we think that means we can get the stuff we want. But He is really saying is that the power will be to share the gospel, not obtain more things for us.

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Jesus adds an important word here: Passover. \"Passover is coming,\" He says. Passover was the religious holiday where the Jews celebrated the fact that God \"passed over\" them in delivering them from the final plague to their Egyptian captors. They escaped by slaughtering a perfect lamb and applying the blood to their doorposts and the meat to their stomachs. But from this Passover on, the significance would be for the whole world, not just escaping one night of death in Egypt but an eternity of death separated from God. From this Passover we apply the blood of the spotless Lamb Jesus to the doorposts of our hearts by applying His sacrifice for our sins, and we take Him into our lives by receiving Him as our Lord.

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3 - 5

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Contrary to what we might think, Jesus was not omniscient while He was on earth. Hebrews 2:7 says \"You made Him for a little while lower than the angels.\" Jesus was given just what He needed to do the job He was given. That, by the way, is all we have too. We don\'t have God\'s entire master plan for our lives; we only have the broad brush strokes of His promises, and the mission for today. Jesus did know exactly what the religious leaders were going to do, and sure enough, they were falling into His trap nicely-plotting to murder Him.

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It is astounding to me that no one in that group thought to themselves \"Hey, are we breaking any of the Law of Moses by conspiring to commit murder?\" They were so entranced and enmeshed in their own flesh that they were completely blind to the real character of God and their real moral accountability to God\'s character.

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This is part of the reason that Jesus, and later the disciples, held the religious leaders responsible for His death.

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It is also interesting to me that they did not want to do it during the feast - which includes Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yet that was just when Jesus wanted it done to fulfill the real meaning of Passover. They were concerned about an uproar, but Jesus knew the uproar would no longer be in support of Him as it was on Palm Sunday, but that the crowd would be incited by the religious leaders to cry out not \"Hosanna!\" but \"Crucify Him!\" Even the enemy\'s best laid plans must be laid at God\'s feet for His ultimate plan of redemption.

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6 - 13

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First of all-notice where Jesus was: in the house of a leper. Leprosy stood for a wide range of skin diseases, not just classical leprosy as we think of it. Leviticus devotes the entirety of chapter 13 to discussing its diagnoses. Moses commanded in Numbers 5 that if leprosy was confirmed, the person was relegated to living away from others and could not be approached. To touch a person with leprosy made that person unclean. Yet here is Jesus in Simon\'s house. Not only did Jesus not become unclean, he came and probably cleansed Simon of the disease. Leprosy is a type of sin, a chronic, degenerative incurable disease that resulted in deadness of feeling and finally death.

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There are only two recorded healings from leprosy in the Old Testament: Miriam, Moses\' sister (Numbers 12:10), and Naaman the army commander of Syria (2 Kings 5:1).? Both of these were miraculous healings. All others simply lived with it (like King Uzziah in 2 Kings 15:5 and the men who discovered the empty camp of the Syrians in 2 Kings 7).

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Yet oddly, Numbers 14:1-32 is devoted to the ceremony to be performed upon the cleansing of leprosy. It involved taking two live (or wild) birds, killing one and setting the other free. When Jesus healed the leper in Matthew 8 he told him to go show himself to the priest no doubt to go through this ceremony.? But in a much larger fulfillment, the two birds represent us and Jesus. Jesus becomes the bird who dies so that we can be set free from the disease of sin.

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How appropriate then, that Jesus would come to Simon\'s house and have oil poured upon Him in preparation for that death. Part of the sacrifice for the cleansing of lepers also involved placing oil on the ear, thumb, and toe of the person. Here a woman, identified as Mary, sister of Martha (in John 12) takes 11 and ? ounces of nard and anoints His head (John says His feet). The nard was worth a year\'s wage and was used as a burial spice.? Afterwards the fragrance filled the room.

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But the disciples, mainly Judas Iscariot, became indignant at the \"waste.\" Those who do not understand the benefit of the cross do not appreciate its cost. Judas said this, John tells us, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he wanted to keep the money for himself.

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Jesus replies that opportunities to help the poor will always exist, but the opportunity to prepare Jesus for His burial will happen only once. Again, Jesus is laser-focused on His mission.

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This also sets up Judas final act of betrayal. It\'s almost as if Jesus is revealing Judas\' true motives-to serve and worship himself, even if it means thumbing his nose at the sacrifice of Jesus. The next paragraph has Judas giving up Jesus\' location to the chief priests, providing them an opportunity to commit one of the greatest sins of all time-the murder of the Son of God.

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14 - 16

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The religious leaders wanted to wait until after the Passover but Jesus had to die now, so as one of the ways we see God\'s master plan even using evil intentions, Judas thinks he is operating in his own best interest, but God is using it to further His plans. God works redemptively in every situation, even evil ones.

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Why did Judas do this? There are several theories.

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• He wanted to force Jesus to rebel against Rome
• He wasn\'t going to get rich following Jesus
• Jesus wasn\'t doing it the way he wanted so he was cutting a deal with the other side.
• He may have become disillusioned when he saw the Jesus was going to suffer, not lead.

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Whatever the reason, he agrees to 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. When Judas later returns the money, he fulfills several prophecies, including Zechariah 11:12-13, and Jeremiah 18:1-4, 19:1-13, and 32:6-15).

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I\'m sure if you had told Judas when he became a disciple that he would betray Jesus he would have been surprised. But it is amazing what lengths we will go to when we are ruled by the flesh.

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17 - 19

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There is a lot of speculation about when and where this took place. Some suggest it was Wednesday of Passion week, others that it was on Thursday, the official day of Passover. Secrecy was important. Jesus knew what Judas was up to. He wanted and needed this time with His disciples and was fully in control of when and where His arrest would take place. Peter and John were sent to meet a man carrying a jar of water (not a normal occurrence). Some suggest that the meal took place at Mark\'s family home. There was a lot to do in preparing for the Passover-getting the bitter herbs, having the lamb slaughtered at the temple, getting the wine and unleavened bread-plus making sure the room was free of dust and yeast.

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Conclusions

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• Don\'t underestimate the enemy\'s ability to take advantage of a situation.

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The religious leaders didn\'t plan on murdering Jesus during the feast but they seized the opportunity when presented to them by Judas. Just because you may have withstood a temptation or trial doesn\'t mean the enemy has given up. He merely retreats to find another opportunity. In fact, it is often when we feel most victorious that we can become most vulnerable because our guard is down. That\'s why both Peter (1 Peter 5:9) and James (James 4:7) speak of \"resisting\" (to stand against) the enemy, standing firm.

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• Don\'t underestimate the value of worship

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Mary\'s act was either extremely wasteful or extremely valuable. Imagine spending a year\'s wages on something you give to the Lord. Just how important is worship to you? What are you willing to spend (and I don\'t mean money) to worship the Lord for what He\'s done?

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• Don\'t underestimate God\'s plan

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God\'s pretty good at figuring out how to run things, and though sometimes life seems random, look for the redemptive plan of God in every situation, both bad and good.

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