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by Sandy Shaw
We move onto Luke Chapter 22. We have been reading of the last and final week of the physical life of Jesus Christ upon this earth, the things He said, the acts He did, the people who challenged Him, and the various profound lessons He taught His disciples. We have been reading of how we must be careful that we are not deceived, nor terrified by the events of the last days.
Nor are we to be asleep, or careless, or confused, but alert, awake, and prayerful.
We now near the end. We are reading the final day, and Jesus has many very important things to say to His men. At the end of this day Jesus is arrested betrayed and put on trial. During these last 24 hours, much has to happen.
It is the Feast of the Passover when Jews remembered that night in Egypt when the angel of death passed over their homes; homes which were marked with the blood of the lamb. That night God was at work delivering His People, the Hebrews, and in the morning they would be set free, released, liberated, but in every Egyptian home, the first born would lie dead.
Under the mighty leadership of Moses, they would make their way to The Red Sea, and God would open up the water miraculously, and see His people safely over, and on their way to the land He had promised to give them. They are on their way to the Promised Land, a phrase seldom used these days. Might some erroneously consider it to be politically incorrect?
The Passover was a highly significant religious feast. The religious leaders should have been preparing to worship God, and preparing to minister to the people. What were they doing? They are preparing to get rid of the Son of God. They are looking for some easy, simple, secret, or quiet way, to get rid of Jesus Christ. It is really quite astonishing.
They are afraid of the people. The hearts of these religious leaders are again exposed by the Word of God, and we see them afraid of public opinion.
They are going about their religious duties as though all is well, but in their hearts there is this horrible motive; to murder Jesus.
In these verses we see how sinful, sinful man, really is.
Satan entered Judas Iscariot. He was one of the twelve, one of Jesus men; yet, his heart is open to evil. The enemy of our souls needs only a very narrow gap through which to squeeze, and once he gets in, havoc follows.
No man can serve two masters. Judas had tried to, but Jesus had taught that if you try to, you will love one and hate the other. One will take over. One master will take over, and with Judas all this happened.
People found that a man who had once been called by Jesus to be a disciple had his price. He could be bought.
Imagine being this close to Jesus, and yet, so far. It is possible.
How does this speak to you as we pause at this crucial point in the day’s proceedings?
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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