Sanctuary

Matthew 26:1-5, 14-25 (ESV)

 When Jesus had finished all these sayings,
he said to his disciples,
“You know that after two days the Passover is coming,
and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

 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.
But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?”
And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread
the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
“Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him,
‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand.
I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’”
And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.
And as they were eating, he said,
“Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another,
“Is it I, Lord?”
He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish
with me will betray me.
The Son of Man goes as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Judas, who would betray him, answered,
“Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

Even when Jesus’ life was slipping away from him, he remained remarkably in control. He predicted his arrest and crucifixion before the religious leaders met to conspire against him. He knew that Judas, one of his trusted apostles, would betray him. How disturbing that must have been to Judas to know that Jesus could see right through his charade. Though humans have their plots and schemes, it is God’s plan that always prevails. Nothing can interfere with what he has purposed to do. And nothing is more central to God’s eternal plan than that Jesus, the Son of Man, would be delivered up to be crucified. His final meal, the Passover, carried symbolic import and pointed to the purpose for Jesus’ death. The Passover was an annual celebration of Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. Jesus’ death would be the new Passover. Those who trust in him experience the ultimate Exodus — deliverance from the slavery of sin. As a result, they enjoy the privilege of living in the freedom of his love forevermore.

When life seems chaotic, when things seem not to cohere, great comfort may be found in remembering Jesus’ own experience at the end of his life. Though humans plotted against him and succeeded in executing their plan, nevertheless they could not thwart the plan of God. What comfort there is in knowing that nothing can interfere with the plan of him who is in control! He is at work in all the particulars for his good purposes. By looking to Jesus, particularly his death for us, we discover what is central to God’s plan for us: through Jesus’ death we find life, through his blood shed for us, we experience the exodus from enslaving sin and the freedom of living in his love.

Prayer

Gracious Father, thank you for being in control of our lives, especially when we feel desperately out of control. Center us in the one who is central to your plan for the ages. Enable us, Holy Spirit, to trust in Christ that we might experience the true Exodus. And having experienced the forgiveness of sin, may we live daily in the freedom of your love, wholeheartedly devoted to you. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

This devotional is courtesy of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Mark 11:15-19 (ESV)

 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple
and began to drive out those who sold
and those who bought in the temple,
and he overturned the tables of the money-changers
and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
And he was teaching them and saying to them,
“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
And the chief priests and the scribes heard it
and were seeking a way to destroy him,
for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
And when evening came they went out of the city.

Every year at Passover thousands of Jews came from all over Israel and Judea to offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. Since many traveled long distances, they often purchased their animal sacrifices in Jerusalem rather than hauling them from home and risking an injury or a blemish that would make them an unworthy sacrifice. It was a convenience for Jewish worshippers to purchase their sacrifices once they arrived. However, the market for these transactions had been set up in the Court of the Gentiles, where non-Jewish seekers of God came to worship. Thus, at Passover, the temple courtyard was filled with livestock, sellers of livestock and money-changers, who exchanged regional currencies for Jewish money.

When Jesus saw this, he was angry — so angry that he overturned tables and placed an embargo on merchandise. But why? Weren’t the merchants just trying to help the travelers worship God? Perhaps. But they were doing it at the expense of those from “all nations” who were seeking God, counting their worship as insignificant. In calling them “robbers” Jesus may have been referring to their greedy financial transactions and the way they were robbing Gentiles of their place of worship.

Yet something else is going on. In a similar account of his cleansing the temple, Jesus was asked for a sign of his authority. He replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). But he wasn’t speaking about the building; “he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21). In other words, when he died, the temple and its entire system — the priesthood, the sacrifices, the glory — died with him because he himself was the Passover Lamb, high priest and Shekinah glory. Thus, when the temple curtain split at the death of Christ (Mark 15:38), the barrier between God and humanity came down for everyone. Jesus became the “house of prayer for all nations.” Today there is no need to travel to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. Nor is there any distinction between Jewish and Gentile worshippers. Worship is no longer attached to a place, but a person. Jesus is the temple. He is where we meet God. — By The Park Forum

Prayer

Lord, we worship Jesus as the final sacrifice, priest, glory and temple. Therefore, let us join ourselves to him so that we may love his name and be his servants (Isaiah 56:6). In Christ, may all nations — those near and far — come to you in prayer (Isaiah 56:8). In Christ’s Name, Amen.

This devotional is courtesy of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Mark 14:3-9 (ESV)

 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an
alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly,
and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
There were some who said to themselves indignantly,
“Why was the ointment wasted like that?
For this ointment could have been sold for more than
three hundred denarii and given to the poor.”
And they scolded her. But Jesus said,
“Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me.
For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want,
you can do good for them.
But you will not always have me.
She has done what she could;
she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

“What a waste!” That is the complaint made regarding the woman’s use of her expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. Jesus will have none of it. He finds a purely cost-benefit analysis of our actions to be inadequate and bankrupt. Even though the money from the sale of the perfume could have been used to do a lot of good things, Jesus considers her act to be completely appropriate. Why? Because it is an act of worship. And he knows that life begins with what you worship.

Worship the wrong things and nothing else will come out quite right. But worship the living God who has given himself for us in the sacrifice of Jesus and you have a new sense of what matters and you will prioritize your life accordingly. Suddenly you find yourself “wasting” your life on Jesus by giving your life to his agenda rather than your own. That will include caring about justice for the poor.

Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, Jesus is not minimizing our responsibility to the poor in this passage. He actually is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, which encourages radical generosity to the poor. However, such generosity flows from worshiping God. First things first! Put God ahead of all else as the only one worthy of your worship and you will find you are pouring yourself out in all sorts of beautiful ways in service to the world.

Prayer

Lord, too often I worship the wrong things. Help me to see that my life is to be “wasted” on you and only then will it become something beautiful for you to use in your world. In Christ’s Name, Amen.