Expected Betrayal

By Pastor Chad

Read: Matthew 26:47-56

The wind billowed with the audacity of a tempestuous sea: blowing and whirling like a bully of nature. The small regional passenger jet moved up-and-down and side-to-side with each wall of wind. It creaked and groaned with every unexpected erratic move. The plane is designed to handle rough turbulence, but mankind is not designed to soar higher than the birds. 

Fear grips my heart on this short flight from Little Rock to Chicago. My mind plays tricks on me. Who is in control here? The pilot or the weather? For sure, I had no control. I couldn’t even control my own emotions. Most passengers seem unaffected by the bumps and jumps, yet I could not relinquish my hands from the armrests. Why did this fear seize my heart? Why couldn’t I simply will it away? Or could I? Control. That is the main problem: I did not have control. 

One of the most stunning aspects of Jesus’ death is that He never lost control. It is heretical to claim He committed suicide by Roman crucifixion, but He certainly ushered each step of His redemptive work. Follow with me the process detailed in Matthew 26:47-56. 

First, Jesus was betrayed with a kiss by one of His own. His reply to Judas was not one of condemnation–though Judas certainly was judged for his actions. Jesus responded by saying, “Friend, do what you came to do” (v. 50). Christ’s response was cordial and expectant; such a reply signals to the hearers (and readers) that Jesus was not caught off-guard.

Next, after Peter cuts the ear off of Malchus (cross-reference John 18:10), Jesus admonishes him saying, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" (v. 53). If He wanted to avoid arrest, all Jesus had to do was ask the Father to send a group of angels to defend Him. But He didn’t do that. Why? Jesus willingly and judicially surrendered Himself to the mob, so that He may fulfill His mission. 

That leads to the last detail. In Matthew 26:56, Jesus declared, “[A]ll this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Jesus was in complete control of everything taking place because He predestined this work since before the foundations of the world. Things were going according to plan–His sovereign plan. 

If the most unjust act to ever take place in human history–the execution of the perfect, spotless Lamb of God–is under the providential purview of our Lord, how much more are our daily lives under His sovereign care? We can trust Him even when the tempestuous winds of this fallen world seem to toss us to-and-fro. We can trust Him even when things are out of our control, because we know they are totally under His control. 

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Prayer: Heavenly Father, be merciful upon me so that I may trust you even when life seems chaotic and confusing.