[Matthew 26:1-16 KJV] “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, [2] Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
[3] Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, [4] And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him . [5] But they said, Not on the feast day , lest there be an uproar among the people.
[6] Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, [7] There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat .
[8] But when his disciples saw it , they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? [9] For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
[10] When Jesus understood it , he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. [11] For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. [12] For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. [13] Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
[14] Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, [15] And said unto them , What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. [16] And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him”.
In this Week of Empowerment to deal with Devils, I trust that the Lord will give us grace to really overpower and overcome devils. We have already stated that the devil uses subtility and cunningness to outwit his unsuspecting victims. The story of Mary anointing Jesus at a time when the elders sought to kill Him with subtilty and the reaction of His disciples leaves us with great lessons on how the devil can take advantage of our familiarity, pride and offense to hurt the people we love and the purpose of God, if it were possible.
It is clear that Jesus Christ knew that He would be betrayed. The the elders were scheming to kill Him, but the real killer was the princes of that age, these forces took advantage of a little situation in church, and filled one of the most important men in the church to carry out their agenda.
Pray attention to details when your pastor is preaching:
Very often you pastor address your imminent battles and temptations. Pastoral preaching always addresses the things and battles that you are likely to face soon. In the last message to His disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the dangers that awaited them.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified”.
Judas was trapped because he was familiar, arrogant, and offended:
It is pride to be offended by the correction of your pastor. Judas became offended that the Lord had stood by the wisdom of the woman who broke the bottle of expensive oil.
At times, your pastor or father could look stupid and dull in your eyes until life begins to test you. The prodigal son is a typical example of this. He thought he could make it big until he stepped into the tides. Judas thought he was so smart, until he held in his hand thirty pieces of silver and did not see its use.
It takes a lot of faith and humanness to submit. Your leader, pastor or father may not be perfect, but the person in the driver’s seat sees more than you think.
For instance, as your pastor, I am equally bereaved as you are, or have been. Yet I stand with you in all things as though I don’t feel the loss. When I advised you, many thought I am saying those things because I have never been there. Well, I am there now, can you see the exemplary leadership?
Beware when you feel that you know anything that your pastor or father does not know. It is a sign of familiarity, pride and offences, which kills.
One day someone told me in the face, “leave me alone!”. I looked at the person and shook me head in sadness, because it was the most silly statement I have ever heard. Beware of familiarity, arrogance and offences.
Familiarity is when you think you know something that your father does not know, or you think your father or pastor is wrong, or you think you have a better idea than your master. You must be careful when you are tempted to answer for your father or pastor and show that you have some special wisdom. The truth is, a student is not greater than the master.
You must learn to listen. When you marry your teacher, you become one but not the same. Knowledge, wisdom and skill are not sexually transmitted. You may be married to an experienced man or woman, but that does not make you as experienced as they are.
Arrogance is when you think you can make it on your own. It is very easy to think you can walk the journey when you have always been driving there. Many of the people whose walking life inspire you are wishing for the day they would also drive. You will get down hoping to have company only to realize that those walking were waiting to jump in and take your place. It is a word. I am not in any way saying that you can’t make it on your own, I am only suggesting that if you have a ride, think about how to make the ride comfortable. If I had no car, I would still come to work, but that does not mean that I am planning on losing my car.
Offense is when you feel so peeved that you would rather help the adversary to win, than to let a friend have it. Judas would rather let the elder kill Jesus than to let Him preach about a harlot; even adding that Mary will be mentioned everywhere the gospel is preached. Beloved, offense is a beast and we must deal with it. Beware!
The devil always has an edge over us when we are fighting and arguing among ourselves, because a house divided against itself shall not stand. But you will escape the deadly traps of familiarity, pride and offences, in Jesus’s name! Amen!
In summary, Mathew 26:1-16 teaches that to escape the traps of the wicked;
- Pay attention to your pastor’s teachings:
He often prophesies about your imminent battles and temptations.
- Beware of familiarity, pride and offence:
It will blind you from the schemes of the adversary. The elders were lookong for Jesus to kill with subtlety, yet Judas was blinded because he had grown familiar, proud and offended.
Be blessed. I love you!
Noah Simpe Bediako
