Matthew 26:1-5 Mark 14:1-2 Luke 22:1-2


Matthew 26:1-5
1 When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.”
Mark 14:1, 2
1 Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him; 2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”
Luke 22:1-2
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.
Fear is an emotion God has given us to protect us from danger and motivate us to action.  Fear prevents us from doing that which could bring us harm.  This emotion can enable us for a fight or a flight in the face of a conflict.  However, fear can also decapacitate us.  Sometimes fear causes us to freeze.  The Bible talks about the fear of man and the fear of God.  In general, we will find that the fear of the Lord will enable us while the fear of man will disable us.  This passage displays these two kinds of fear.  We will see how Jesus and the religious leaders respond in the face of fear.

JESUS WARNS HIS DISCIPLES: Jesus has just finished teaching His disciples about His second coming which is what all the disciples were expecting to happen at His first coming.  Now, He plainly states that He will be turned over for crucifixion.  This does not seem to compute in the minds of the disciples.  Jesus knows what is about to happen to Him.  He has every reason to fear the men who are conspiring to nail Him to a cross.  Yet, Jesus states this fact with such calm and resolve that it seems almost matter of fact.  This statement must have shaken the disciples to the core.  Their king has just stated that he will be crucified.  This calm resolve in the face of grave danger is the result of Jesus living with fear of God.  This is not a paralyzing fear; but an empowering fear.  It is a deep-seated desire to please the Father that enables Jesus to face fearful circumstances with confidence.  When we live for the Lord, we will be able to face the difficulties of life with grace.

LEADERS WANT TO KILL JESUS: While Jesus is meeting with His disciples and revealing to them that He will be crucified; the Jewish leaders are meeting together in a plot to kill Jesus.  This meeting demonstrates no fear of the Lord on the part of these leaders.  Here we have a group of religious leaders in a meeting, but there is no mention of them seeking the Lord’s will.  They do not pray about the subject together.  Pride and hatred have taken over their hearts.  They can calmly discuss the murder of a man who gives every indication that He is Messiah without even so much as mentioning God.  This complete lack of fear of God leads them down a very dark road to complete and utter destruction.  This is a very sobering commentary, because we all have a natural sinful bent towards pride and hatred.  Our sinful nature does not naturally produce love and humility.  These virtues must be stimulated in our lives through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, study of Scripture, communion with the Lord in prayer and fellowship with other like-minded believers.  Left unchecked by these practices, our hearts will lead us down a very dark path towards destruction and a complete disregard for the fear of the Lord.

LEADERS WORRY ABOUT THE PEOPLE:  Even though the leaders demonstrate no fear of the Lord; they delay because of their fear of man.  Because of the festival, many people have gathered.  They are concerned that these people might break out into a riot in protest if Jesus were to be killed during the festival.  The reason many people would riot, was because many believed Jesus was Messiah.  They fear these people but are completely unwilling to consider that their faith in Jesus as Messiah might be correct.  It is interesting to contrast the attitudes of these men with the attitude of Jesus.  He has no fear of man.  The leaders fear men.  We must be sure that we are controlled by the of God and not the fear of men.

APPLICATION: Don’t allow the fear of men to overcome our fear of the Lord.  Pleasing God must always take precedent over pleasing people.  Make sure that any decisions that we know will hurt people, are made in the context of much prayer and seeking the will of God before being carried out.  Have full confidence in the love of God as it is vital in being victorious over our fear of men.

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