All In God’s Time: Mark 14:1-2

Leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, several of the gospel writers include a short transition statement that is worth us paying attention to. In most cases, this transition statement would simply be skimmed over when reading it, but if we pause long enough to let these verses sink in, we can see something incredible in what was planned vs. what actually happened.

Mark’s gospel tells us that “It was now only two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a trick to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they said, ‘We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot.’” (v. 1-2)

In these verses, we can see a clear contrast between two different ideas. The first is that the religious leaders were set on finding a way to trick and arrest Jesus with the ultimate intent of killing Him. However, the second idea is that the leaders know that they must do this when not many others are around because otherwise it might cause a riot. Because of the fear of rioting among Jesus’ supporters, the leaders decide to wait and not look to arrest Him during the feast.

However, Jesus has told the disciples that He was going up to Jerusalem and would be killed. Jesus knew the exact time and exact way these events would happen – and specifically that His death would be during the feast.

In our passage, we see a growing conflict between God’s plan and our human plans. Looking at what happened during that Passover-crucifixion weekend, we can easily conclude that whenever our plans conflict with God’s plan, God’s plan always takes precedence. While this doesn’t mean that we cannot pray and ask God to adjust His plan, knowing this detail should prompt us to always frame our requests by asking for God’s will to be done.

Sometimes God will change His plans based on our requests, but even if He doesn’t, we should trust that He knows what is best from eternity’s perspective.