“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.” (Matthew 26:3-4)
Passover was at hand. Jesus knew that very soon the Son of Man would be delivered up to be crucified (v. 2). (That thought was never far from the surface of his consciousness, no matter what else occupied his immediate attention.) Meanwhile the religious leaders of the Jews were plotting together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
This passage reminds us that religious leaders are just as capable as anyone (more so?) of breaking all the rules to get their way. Jesus told his disciples that soon those who sought to kill them would do so because they thought they were offering service to God (John 16:2). What was true for them was equally true for him (cf. 15:20).
Perhaps at no time are leaders in the church more dangerous than when they think they are offering service to God, and therefore that the ends justify the means. Not only are they then willing to abandon basic brotherly love — treating others as they themselves would be treated (Matt. 7:12) — but they are also willing to “outface the truth,” refuse to hear a just defense, eagerly receive an evil report, and various other violations of the ninth commandment (cf. WLC 144-145). They may not quite be up to putting a brother to death, but they are often willing to see his reputation assassinated and his ministry to the church crippled.
As Jesus moved deliberately toward the cross, the burden of suffering was laid upon him more heavily with every passing hour. Certainly a most grievous aspect of his sorrow had to come from enduring the treatment he, “the Chief Shepherd,” received from those who had been called to be shepherds in Israel, but proved to be false.
Let us leaders take warning.
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