Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12‬:‭17‬-‭20‬
Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.

When I try to discover why this section is in the Bible, the details and what is being communicated, I find it a very fascinating few verses. This is a section I might have been tempted to skip over in the past, as just a narrative connecting some more meaningful teaching or stories. But I must remember that “all scripture is God-breathed” (II Timothy 3:16).

So what is it here for? After a little digging, I remembered that the feast of unleavened bread was a feast and festival prescribed by Moses. It was actually a seven day fast from yeast. This was to remember God’s provision for them at the time of the Passover, when he rescued them from the hand of the powerful Egyptians.

The first making of unleavened bread was a part of the preparation for the Israelites to leave Egypt. God would send his Destroying Angel in the night to kill all the firstborn sons of Egypt. If the Israelites wanted to be exempted from this strike, they had to line their doorpost with the blood of a lamb. And they were instructed to bake bread for the escape journey. They were not to use yeast, as this was bread made in haste and did not have time to rise.

So we find Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb of God, is coming to the feast that was in honor of God’s great rescue of the Jews from Egypt’s oppressive hand. And he has been sent to earth from heaven as a man, to rescue all of mankind who would receive his salvation as a gift and follow him to freedom from sin. The people at this time knew he was (at the very least) a special prophet sent from God.

The Jewish leaders have a choice. They could listen to Jesus, God’s son. Or they could try to kill him off (their competition). Instead of being honest and boldly confronting Jesus or arresting him in public, they schemed. They decided to secretly arrest him to avoid a revolt by the people.

The irony here is incredible. The very one who could save these Jewish leaders and their people for all eternity, they try to kill on the same day they celebrate God’s salvation from the slavery and oppression in Egypt. They were truly blinded by their pride.

I must ask myself, am I seeing God’s work through his messengers clearly? Is pride getting in my way? Do I attack and come against those who he is using? Or will I humble myself and follow him to the cross?

Lord, thank you for this important note regarding the timing and irony of the situation you found yourself in. It must have taken an incredible amount of love and grace to not get bitter and lash out in anger at these hypocrites. Thank you for being patient with me when, in pride, I have come against those who have tried to serve me in God’s service. Humble me and further break my pride.