Holy Week Devotional: Day 4
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
by Ryan Carson
Reflections on Matthew 26:1-5
1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
I’ll never forget the first time I visited a children’s hospital. My teammate and friend was fighting for his life after a terrible accident in a batting cage. The swelling on his brain was so severe that the doctors put him in a medically induced coma. They hoped that his body would begin to stabilize on its own, as there was little they could do to make things better.
As I entered those sliding doors to the hospital, I was immediately struck by the contrast of the lively, colorful décor with the many children and families facing unthinkably difficult circumstances. I had never seen anything like it. Even as a sixteen-year-old kid, the weight of their suffering shocked and humbled me.
Few things trouble us more than seeing the innocent suffer. Something deep inside us is shaken by the sheer wrongness of it. But when that person’s suffering is the direct result of someone else’s personal ambitions, our shock turns quickly to anger and a desire for swift justice.
This is precisely the situation in which we find Jesus of Nazareth two days before His crucifixion. The chief priests are conspiring to have Him arrested and killed. One of Jesus’s closest friends, in fact, aligns himself with the rich and powerful, offering to betray Him and assist in His abduction under the cover of night. The sinless, selfless Son of God, whose only crime is that He claims to be Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, is running out of friends and running out of time.
What are we to make of Jesus’s seemingly hopeless situation? And how does that help us with our own frustrations and desperation? The lesson of Matthew 26:1-5 is this: even in moments of betrayal and pain, God is at work, quietly unfolding His redemptive plan to rescue us through the cross of Jesus. In their pride and lust for power, the chief priests sought to silence Jesus and protect their positions of authority. Perhaps you know what it’s like to be betrayed, lied about, taken advantage of, or framed as the aggressor when you were the victim. These sinful, destructive acts break God’s heart, but they can never upend His good plans.
The cross of Jesus says that you are loved. And the empty tomb says that you have life. This is God’s unshakable will for all who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. No one and no thing can ever take that from you, no matter how powerful they might seem. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, “ The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.’ ” (Isa. 14:24 NIV).
Reflect & Respond
- Take some time to consider God’s good plans and purposes for you. How are they different from what your thoughts and actions reveal you’ve actually been believing?
- Jesus knows the pain of betrayal, and He chose to forgive His enemies (which include you and me). Ask God to help you forgive those who have harmed you, trusting Him with your healing, your heart, and the justice only He can bring.
Author’s Note – By God’s grace, my friend did eventually experience a complete recovery. He even went on to become a standout shortstop for his college baseball team. Thought you’d want to know.
Related Resources:
- Listen to our worship music playlist to help prepare your heart this Easter.
- View our Holy Week services and plan to worship with us this week.
