Urgency

Have you had people hunting you down? Have you been wanted for questioning about a crime? Has the Internal Revenue Service sought you out to discuss your tax return? Were you falsely accused of wrongdoing? How did it feel? Were you afraid of what might be coming?

Being pulled in for questioning can be nerve wracking. Having the IRS reviewing your tax returns with you personally can be stressful, even if you did them perfectly. Being falsely accused of wrongdoing can be very upsetting. We can experience a variety of negative emotions.

A couple days before the Passover Jesus was being hunted. The Jewish leadership were on the prowl, looking for Him. They had a contingent of soldiers, we would call them security guards, who were likely looking for Him as well. They had had enough of Him. His triumphal entry had gotten the people all riled up. They were opposed to His teachings and now He might be going to cause an uprising. They were fearful of losing their way of doing things and their prestige.

But Jesus was not in Jerusalem. He was in Bethany, a village a couple miles away. Make no mistake about it, Jesus knew they were looking for Him. He knew what would happen. It was for this reason He had come to Jerusalem at this time. Knowing this did not necessarily relieve Him of the emotions roiling inside. In fact, it may have added urgency to His desire to teach all that He could before He went to the cross. The time was short.

We may know of people who experienced something similar. It may have been someone who was diagnosed with a disease that only gave them a few months to live. The urgency to check off some items on their bucket list ramped up. Jesus was doing all He could to prepare His disciples for what would happen in a couple days. Have we prepared ourselves and others?

I pray we all recognize the urgency Jesus had those last few days. I pray we seek to carry out His will for our lives. I pray each one of us prepare ourselves and others for the day we pass from this life into eternal life. See Jesus’ urgency. Set your priorities. Prepare yourself. Prepare others.

Mark 14:1-2 It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”