“When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples,
“As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
Matthew 26:1-5 NIV

As His Passion had begun to unfold, Jesus found Himself at the home of a man named Simon (the leper, presumably now cured) and He again directs the hearts of His disciples toward His suffering that looms heavily on the horizon of His mind. His voluntary suffering, brought on by love and justice and grace, is undeniable and He desires that those closest to a Him understand what is getting ready to take place.

This isn’t the first time a He has introduced this topic, and I fact, He has even had to correct them on their misunderstanding of His mission here on earth. When Peter heard Him speak of this earlier, he responded in a deeply human way to it, and was rebuked for acting and speaking and thinking in this way (“Get behind me, Satan!”.) Suffering was prophesied for the Messiah, Scripture confirmed that this is what must happen, but the hearts of Jesus’ disciples and the rest of Israel don’t want anything like this to even be mentioned.

When our hearts are misaligned with God’s heart, His message is going to seem abrupt or even strange to us. News of what God is up to, even if it is for our good, is going to sound disruptive and can put us out of joint.

We see this pretty clearly in the hearts and minds of Caiaphas and those conspiring against Jesus. Their hearts were so out of line with God that having all of His Word memorized didn’t help them see His Word standing before them in the flesh. They knew the prophecies, they knew what was supposed to happen, but they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Their own agendas had long since circumvented what God desired, and their hearts are now solidly conspiring against Him.

Rationalizing one misdeed seems bad to us, but not horrible. We mess up all the time, and so one more little slip, albeit an intentional slip, doesn’t seem that terrible. But one rationalization leads to another, and soon another and before we know it we have traded the granite beneath our feet for quicksand. We find ourselves so far beyond where we would have ever thought and we see a return to where we should be as nearly impossible. And so we compromise again to compensate…

Jesus is trying to explain what must happen. We need to be ready to hear these messages and directions of God’s plan for us, to be willing to hear what He has to say. It may not always be the easiest thing to comprehend, but it is His will, and it is working for the good of those who love Him.

We will find ourselves on either side of that coin, either we accept what He has for us or we will find ourselves compromising and conspiring against Him. We cannot have it both ways.

So, as Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday approach, pray and ask God to create a willing heart in you, ready to hear, believe and act in His will and in His perfect plan. Ask Him to guard your heart against pride, and to give you a spirit of peace in whatever He desires of you.