22:4-6
So Judas went to the priests offering to help. What were the reasons for this? We can only speculate, and need to recognise that any ideas we come up with are mere speculations. In John we read that Judas pilfered money, maybe he was frustrated with Jesus, maybe he just saw an opportunity to get some money. The latter would be consistent with his doing this for thirty pieces of silver. But all we can be certain of is (i) he was doing Satan’s work; (ii) he was fulfilling God’s plan. All this being part of God’s plan in no way diminishes human responsibility.
The priests were glad to have an opportunity to “get” Jesus. One of the disciples betraying Jesus would be politically very convenient for them. They could then point to this fact if the crowds objected. So Judas would seek to betray Jesus at some point when He was away from the crowds. If the people were there, there would be a great danger that they would intervene and stop the priests’ plans.
22:7,8
Verse 7 was probably deliberately phrased the way it is: “the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed”. At one level they were making preparations for the normal Jewish Passover, but at another level they were preparing for a much greater Passover, the sacrifice of the Son of God. So Jesus sent Peter and John to make preparations.
22:9-13
In reality the events that were about to unfold had been prepared for many years ago, even before time began, in fact. Here we see that all sorts of practical details are seen to be in order. Meeting a man carrying a water jar, the meeting room being ready. The cross was no surprise. The nature of the Old Testament Passover itself was a preparation for the cross, a pointing forward to it.
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