Day 35 – No Right Time For the Wrong Thing
Matthew 26:1-5 (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.”
Jesus knew that the time had come:
He had often told them of his sufferings at a distance, now he speaks of them as at the door.
“The policy of the plotters: Not on the feast-day. Why not? Was it in regard to the holiness of the time, or because they would not be disturbed in the religious services of the day? No, but lest there should be an uproar among the people. They knew Christ had a great interest in the common people, of whom there was a great concourse on the feast-day, and they would be in danger of taking up arms against their rulers if they should offer to lay violent hands on Christ, whom all held for a prophet. They were awed, not by the fear of God, but by the fear of the people; all their concern was for their own safety, not God’s honor. They would have it done at the feast; for it was a tradition of the Jews, that malefactors should be put to death at one of the three feasts, especially rebels and impostors, that all Israel might see and fear; but not on the feast-day.”
—Matthew Henry Unabridged
Have you ever been with a group of leaders trying to figure out when was the right time to do the wrong thing? “Let’s not do that during the Holidays, it wouldn’t be good!” “Let’s do it quietly and not be transparent about the reasons, or the people will be upset!” The truth is, there is no right time to do the wrong thing! If it isn’t a good thing to do during the Holidays then it isn’t a good thing to do and you shouldn’t do it! God is always watching! He is the one to be concerned about!
Rev. Andy Bales
President/CEO of Union Rescue Mission