Jesus our Passover Lamb, the Lord of the Unleavened Life

Who wins?

(Mark 14:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 9, 2020)

[1] It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, [2] for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

Who wins at the cross? Are the details leading up to the battle significant? Mark writes about the expectations of the Lord's enemies concerning timing and the anticipated objections of the crowds to their plans to secretly arrest and murder Jesus. What were the assumptions of those who wanted to see Jesus gone? Were they wrong? When it comes to the power encounter between Jesus and his enemies at the cross, who wins?

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

The biblical history of Passover – Exodus 12:2 “for you the beginning of months”

The significance of the Passover Lamb – Exodus 12:2-7 “a lamb for a household... without blemish... take some of the blood... put it on the two doorposts and the lintel...”

The biblical history of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – Exodus 12:8-20, 26-27 “What do you mean by this service?” – No conclusive word regarding leaven until New Testament

The spiritual significance of leaven – Mark 8:15, Luke 12:1–3, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

The Leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees, the Chief Priests and Scribes

Their teaching, hypocrisy, malice, evil: Matthew 16:12, Luke 12:1, 1 Corinthians 5:8

What were they seeking? Arrest and killing of Jesus. Why? Keeping power+ forever

Why the secrecy? The people, an uproar, the Romans

Why would anyone want to kill Jesus? Clearly a new order was coming in him...

The Reasoning of the Scribes and the Pharisees

“Not during the feast” – Massive numbers of people

Yet Jesus was arrested and died in connection with the Passover.

The concern that the crowds would be for Jesus

Little did they know... Mark 15:11 – The covering of ungodly leadership

THE POINT: What man seeks to accomplish by his own power is quickly overruled by the sovereign authority of the Almighty.

Applying these verses:

1. The facts of the cross continue to amaze us. The details are worth our consideration.

2. We are clearly not in charge of the central events of human history. Genesis 3:15, Colossians 2:13-15, Roman 16:20, See also Psalm 2 and Acts 4:23-31.

3. Let us always conduct ourselves with the sincerity and truth of Jesus, our leader. Corrie ten Boom's Prison Letters – “I felt the need to write one final letter.”

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 126 – Bringing in the Sheaves

New Testament Reading—Romans 16:17-27 – The Crushing of Satan

Other Passages:

Exodus 12:26–27

[26] And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ [27] you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Luke 12:1–3

[1] In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. [2] Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. [3] Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8

[6] Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? [7] Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. [8] Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Mark 15:6–15

[8] And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. … [11] But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. … [13] And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” …

Genesis 3:15

[15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Colossians 2:13–15

[13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Romans 16:20

[20] The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.