Lent: Mark chapter 14 verse 1

Death Plot and Anointing

14 Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;

We now come into the period of Lent. Lent for Christians is a time of preparation for the greatest of the festivals in the Christian calendar. The death and resurrection has had profound influence on the world that we live in. Even time has BC and AD on it. In other words Before Christ and after the Death of our Lord.

I want to start by looking at Mark chapter 14 verse 1

Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;

Background information with a large paint brush

The Passover in Judaism even to this day is a big festival. It is when the angel of death passed over all the houses that had blood splattered over the door posts. This was a sign that the First born would be spared. Any person who refused this would have lost their first born child. The Angel of death continued and in the story Egypt did not escape this judgement from God.

Remember that when this story was told the Israelites were slaves of the Egyptians.

Relating to Jesus
It was around this festival that the political and religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus did no wrong but only healed and preached and pointed people in the direction of having a true relationship with God.

Other peace makers
Interesting how jealousy tends to be taken out on the peacemakers in this world. Gandhi was a peace maker and was murdered for it. Martin Luther King another peace maker was killed in cold blood. Malcolm X after he gave up the idea of violence was murdered. Nelson Mandela spent many years of his life under house arrest and out of this list he was the only one who died in old age.

Yes these other examples are important but for Christians the death of Jesus was no accident. As the angel of death passed over Israel and the first born were saved, so too by Jesus’ blood, God’s wrath would pass over any wrong doer.

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