Notes to the Lord:On Not Judging

Scripture Reflections:Matthew 26

1When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2"As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

Lord Jesus--You went into Jerusalem knowing what would be the outcome. You knew and you went anyway, even though the ragtag group of disciples heard what you said. It is clear that they did not get it. I wonder how much of what you are trying to tell me and teach me I am missing...I just don't get the point until it is long after the time that it would be helpful.

Every higher education experience I have ever been involved with that is the way it went. I heard the information and yet could not really integrate it until much later. The disciples had about as higher an educational experience as they could get and yet they didn't get it.

3Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. 5"But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people."

Lord Jesus--The religious elite wanted you gone...they may have disguised what they were doing to others and even to themselves. They may have thought that a riot might occur. But the real reason was the threat that you presented to their vested interests. You did not fit into their nice neat world.

It would be easy to sit in judgment of these men who lived and were trying to lead a people in an occupied country. They were trying to preserve what could be saved of their culture and their religion.

The reality is they were faced with hard choices, and they choose to listen to the wrong voices. They choose fear instead of faith. They choose the past instead of the future that You were calling them to. How often do I make the same choice. I choose fear instead of faith...I choose the safety of the past instead of the hope of what you can do in the future.

In the day that will start in a couple of hours...help me to choose to follow where you lead me.