Matt 20:18   We are going up to Jerusalem , and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death

    

  

I always think this is a most tragic verse, and yet one that brings great reassurance. It is tragic because of what it says about the human race. Here was the glorious Son of God, going about the countryside, healing people by the thousand, teaching and transforming lives in a most wonderful way. All he did was good, yet it upset the religious people and, even worse, the religious leaders. These were the people who, most of all, should have been in contact with God and should have recognised, received and rejoiced over Jesus, but instead they did the opposite. They planned to kill him. How often do people plan to kill off what is good in the world, because it simply doesn't conform to what they believe and it shows them up. This is the awfulness of Sin in mankind that leads us to do such terrible things.

 

Yet this verse also brings great reassurance. If we had any doubts about what happened in Jerusalem on that fateful Passover week, this verse should still them. This verse tells us that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. It wasn't a mistake, it wasn't circumstances getting out of his control. No, this was clearly part of God's specific plan to redeem the world and, as terrible as it was, it meant the sacrifice of His Son as he died to take our sins and all of our punishment there on the Cross. No, it wasn't an accident, it was the perfect plan of God.