Matthew 26:1-5 “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away–and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. ‘But not during the Feast,’ they said, ‘or there might be a riot among the people.’”

“If only I could get control…” On the one hand, Jesus had already announced, “the Son of Man will be handed over…” At the same time, we hear of his enemies, “they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way…” Who was really in control of what was going on here?

It is hard to do something on the sly, to accomplish your goals by deceit and trickery, when your victim knows what you are going to do even before you do. First, Jesus announces he will be handed over. Then the chief priests and elders plot to arrest him in some sly way. It speaks volumes about who was really in control of everything. Jesus could have left Jerusalem at this very moment. If he stayed, the One who knew his enemies’ plans before they did had the ability to know all their movements. He could make sure he was never available, never where they expected to find him. He had slipped through their fingers before.

Beyond that, there was an even greater power into which he could tap. With just a word or two he brought dangerous storms to a complete standstill. Certainly he had the power to overcome whatever force the Jewish leaders used to arrest him and hold him captive. The appearance of control by Jewish and Roman authorities throughout Jesus’ suffering and death was only an illusion.

Would it surprise you if I admitted that I want control–control over my own life? I not only want to keep control from people around me, people who have different plans than I do, people who might use their control to take advantage of me. I would also like to control Jesus’ involvement in my life. I plot and I plan. Sometimes I even think that I have control, or I am gaining control. But it is all just an illusion. You and I have to act responsibly, but with our cooperation or without it, Jesus still has ultimate control over all that happens to me.

Isn’t that a comfort when we look at his plans for this Passover? As we review all that he suffered, as we sit at the foot of the cross on Good Friday and look up at his bruised and blood-drenched body, it is easy for us to forget that he is there because he wants to be. He chooses this, not because he enjoys suffering. It filled his soul with such dread that he pleaded with his Father in Gethsemane to take it away if possible. But it wasn’t possible, and so he chooses to let these men arrest him and commit all their crimes against him because it saves and serves us.

“The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,” the prophet Isaiah says. This is not because of some accident, not because God lost it for a little while, but because this was Jesus’ plan. He was in control of the process from the start to the very end. He still is. Don’t be afraid to let him take the wheel.