马太福音26:1-5：终极的良善

1耶稣说完了这一切的话，就对门徒说：2“你们知道，过两天是逾越节，人子将要被交给人，钉在十字架上。”3那时，祭司长和民间的长老聚集在大祭司称为该亚法的院里。4大家商议要用诡计拿住耶稣杀他；5只是说“当节的日子不可，恐怕民间生乱。”

当马太将我们的注意力转向耶稣通往十字架旅途的时候，我们看到完美的良善和完全的邪恶两者之间的冲突。一方面，神的儿子提前两天宣布他会被钉十字架。他知道这件事情会发生，而且他也定意要完成他的使命。他并不是因为陷入一系列旋风般的不幸事件，才导致被钉十字架。他知道会发生，并决定让它发生。

这就是终极的良善。罗马书5章6-8节：“因我们还软弱的时候，基督就按所定的日期为罪人死。为义人死，是少有的；为仁人死，或者有敢作的。惟有基督在我们还作罪人的时候为我们死，神的爱就在此显明了。”耶稣看到我们的无助，即使我们根本不值得被拯救，他还是用他的死救赎了我们。他完全不考虑自己，仅仅考虑了我们。

这个终极的良善行为与他敌人的完全邪恶形成了鲜明的对比。那些宗教领袖密谋要杀害耶稣，而且是利用他们的圣职来实现的。尽管他们不想因为诡诈的行为破坏逾越节，他们还是不得不抓住机会把耶稣钉在十字架上了。最终，神的旨意成就了。完美圣洁的逾越节羔羊一次为所有人献上，神对他选民的愤怒才得以止息。完全的爱胜过了完全的恶。

祷告：主耶稣，当我翻阅《马太福音》最后这几章，并再次专注于你通向十字架旅途的时候，请张开我的眼目并聚焦在你完美的爱之上，你的爱救赎我脱离罪恶，也让我从此属于你。祷告奉你的名，阿们！

Matthew 26:1-5:  1 When 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.”3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

We see perfect goodness and pure evil contrasted as Matthew calls our attention to the journey of Jesus to the cross. On the one hand, you have the Son of God announcing two days beforehand that he will be crucified. He knew that it was going to happen and he was determined in his mind to complete his mission. He was not caught up in a whirlwind of unfortunate circumstances that ended in his crucifixion. He knew it was going to happen. He was determined that it would happen.

This is the ultimate good.  Romans 5:6-8: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus saw our helplessness, and even though we were hardly worth saving, he died to redeem us.  He thought nothing of himself, but only of us.

This ultimate act of goodness is set in contrast to the pure evil of his enemies. Religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus and they used their holy office to accomplish it. And as much as they didn’t want to ruin the Passover festival by their act of treachery, they just couldn’t help but seize the opportunity to crucify Jesus.  And in the end, God’s purposes prevailed.  The perfect Passover Lamb was sacrificed once and for all so that God’s wrath might passover his people.  Perfect love won over pure evil.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, as I start these last chapters of Matthew and devote again on your journey to the cross to save me, open my eyes to your perfect love that redeemed me from my sin and made me your own.  I ask this in your name.  Amen.