Continuing on from where we left off yesterday, let's take a look at those chapters in Matthew. What happened in those 5 days—from Sunday to Friday? What happened in chapters 21-27 that would have brought about such a drastic change in the shouts of the people?
“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became indignant.”
(Matthew 21:15)
No surprise here. The priests are indignant and the children are still shouting Hosanna.
“When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”
(Matthew 21:46)
Again, priests not happy—they fear the response of the crowds because the people believe He could be the Messiah.
“They plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, ‘Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.’"
(Matthew 26:4, 5)
Okay, we are into chapter 26 and still no angry people. Angry scribes and Pharisees, yes! Angry crowds, no!
Chapters 22, 23, 24 and 25 all contain teachings and parables of Jesus. He continues to stir up the religious leaders with His words, but from what we see in the verses from chapter 26 above, the people continue to follow Jesus.
Nothing changes; the people do not change . . .
until Jesus is arrested.
From this point on, accusations fly.
In Matthew 26, Jesus stands before the illegally gathered Sanhedrin.
“The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus, however false, on which they might have him executed.”
(Matthew 26:59)
In Matthew 26:73, Peter is accused by bystanders outside the temple courtyard of being a follower of Jesus. They are not in awe of this man who is so close to “The Man”. Peter, so full of fear, denies his Master three times.
Jesus is then led before Pilate, Herod and then once more returned to Pilate. Neither man wants anything to do with Jesus, the priests and their accusations. It is festival time. The governor’s practice is to release one prisoner for the people during this time. Anyone the crowd chose. Pilate believes they will choose Jesus.
And just that quickly we are at Friday—the shouts of Friday.
The religious leaders had their own idea of who the Messiah would be.
Jesus did not come even close to qualifying.
Jesus did not free them from the oppression they were under.
When Jesus was arrested,
with the extensive list of charges made against Him,
the people lost faith in who they believed to be their Deliverer.
The Messiah was to replace the Roman kingdom, not be held by it.
The Messiah was to conquer Roman rule, not be subject to it.
The Messiah was to free them, not lose His own freedom.
Surely, they must have been wrong.
They had been duped.
He was not the coming Messiah.
They put their faith in the wrong guy.
They put their hope in a failure.
Their dejected hope was the abrupt turn from believing Him to be the coming King to turning on Him and offering Him up by their own words.
Jesus told the people He would be lifted up (John 3:14).
The people’s shouts on Friday did the lifting.
Tomorrow, we will look at one final shout the people made that Friday.
{edited from the archives, as I spend my week quiet with Jesus}
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