Two Clocks, One Time: The Plot to Kill Jesus Text: Matthew 26:1-5
Introduction: Sovereign Timetables
We come now to the beginning of the end. Jesus has finished His public teaching ministry. He has delivered His searing indictment of the scribes and Pharisees, and He has given His disciples the great Olivet Discourse, a roadmap for the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. Now, the narrative pivots. The action quickens. We are moving inexorably toward the cross.
What we see in these opening verses of Matthew 26 is a stunning juxtaposition of two very different councils, two very different plans, two very different timetables. On the one hand, you have the Lord of glory, calmly and sovereignly announcing His impending crucifixion to His disciples. He is not a victim of circumstance; He is the master of it. He knows the time, He knows the method, and He knows the purpose. His clock is the divine clock, set from before the foundation of the world.
On the other hand, you have the chief priests and elders of Israel, the religious establishment, gathered in the palace of the high priest. They are also making plans. They are also setting a timetable. They are full of their own importance, their own cunning, and their own political calculations. They are plotting, scheming, and whispering in the shadows. Their clock is a human clock, driven by fear, envy, and a desperate desire to maintain their own power.
The central lesson for us is this: when the clock of divine sovereignty and the clock of human rebellion appear to be telling different times, you can be certain which one is correct. God is never late. He is never early. He is always precisely on time. The wicked plots of men, far from frustrating the purposes of God, are in fact the very instruments by which He accomplishes them. This is a hard truth, but it is a glorious one. It is the bedrock of our confidence in a world that seems, from our limited vantage point, to be spiraling out of control. It is not. The hand that holds the scepter is the same hand that was pierced for our transgressions.
The Text
Now it happened that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered over for crucifixion.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, “Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people.”
(Matthew 26:1-5 LSB)
The Divine Announcement (v. 1-2)
We begin with the calm, sovereign declaration of our Lord.
"Now it happened that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered over for crucifixion.'" (Matthew 26:1-2)
Matthew marks a solemn transition here. "When Jesus had finished all these words." This is the end of His public teaching. The time for words is drawing to a close, and the time for the Word to become the ultimate deed is at hand. He turns from the crowds and the Pharisees to His own men, and He gives them the final, explicit timetable.
Notice the certainty in His voice. "You know..." This is not a guess. It is not a fearful prediction. It is a statement of fact, a divine appointment. He is not being hunted down against His will. He is marching to His own enthronement, and the cross is His throne. He is in complete control of the narrative. The events are not sweeping Him away; He is directing them.
And the timing is everything. "After two days the Passover is coming." This is no coincidence. The Passover was the great festival of redemption in the Old Testament, where a lamb was slain and its blood applied to the doorposts, so that the angel of death would pass over the houses of God's people. It was the symbol of deliverance from bondage in Egypt. For centuries, Israel had been rehearsing this drama, killing a lamb, year after year. Now, the reality to which the symbol pointed was about to arrive. Jesus is declaring that He is the true Passover Lamb. He will be sacrificed at the very moment the Passover lambs are being slain all over Jerusalem. The shadow is about to give way to the substance. The entire sacrificial system is about to find its fulfillment and its termination in Him.
He says the "Son of Man is to be delivered over for crucifixion." He is handed over. This is the language of both divine purpose and human betrayal. God the Father will deliver Him over for our sins (Romans 8:32). Judas will deliver Him over for thirty pieces of silver. The chief priests will deliver Him over to Pilate. But behind all these human actors is the sovereign will of God, working all things according to the counsel of His will. And the method is crucifixion, a Roman method of execution, a cursed death. This is all part of the plan. He must be "lifted up" as the serpent was in the wilderness. He must become a curse for us, to redeem us from the curse of the law.
The Human Conspiracy (v. 3-4)
Immediately after Jesus announces the divine plan, Matthew shifts the scene to the human plotters. The contrast is stark.
"Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him." (Matthew 26:3-4 LSB)
Here we see the official leadership of Israel, the men who were supposed to be the shepherds of God's people, gathered in the palace of the high priest. This should have been a place of prayer, of justice, of seeking God's will. Instead, it has become a den of conspirators, a nest of vipers. They are the spiritual descendants of the very men who killed the prophets, as Jesus had just told them in Matthew 23.
Their leader is Caiaphas, the high priest. John's gospel gives us a crucial insight into his thinking. He had earlier prophesied, without understanding the full weight of his own words, that it was "better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish" (John 11:50). He meant it as a cold, political calculation: sacrifice this one troublesome rabbi to appease the Romans and preserve our nation and our power. But God, in His profound irony, used the mouth of this wicked high priest to declare the very heart of the gospel: the substitutionary atonement of Christ.
Their plan is characterized by two things: deception and murder. They plotted to seize Him "by stealth." They cannot arrest Him openly because they fear the people. This reveals their cowardice and their hypocrisy. They are not men of truth and light; they are men of shadows and schemes. Their authority is a sham. They are not concerned with righteousness, but with public relations. And their ultimate goal is to "kill Him." This is the final, desperate act of a religious system that has become utterly corrupt. When a religion loses its connection to the living God, it inevitably becomes a murderous, persecuting religion. It cannot tolerate the presence of the true light, because its deeds are evil.
Conflicting Timetables (v. 5)
Now we come to the central point of tension in the passage. The conspirators have a plan, but they also have a problem with the timing.
"But they were saying, 'Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people.'" (Matthew 26:5 LSB)
Here is the collision of the two clocks. Jesus says, "In two days, at the Passover." Caiaphas and his council say, "Not at the Passover." They are afraid of the crowds. Jerusalem was swollen with pilgrims for the feast, many of whom were Galileans who held Jesus in high regard. An open arrest during the festival could easily ignite a popular uprising, which would bring the heavy hand of the Romans down upon them. So their prudent, political plan is to wait. Wait until the feast is over, until the crowds have dispersed, and then they can take care of their Jesus-problem quietly.
Man proposes, but God disposes. They say, "Not on the feast day." God has already decreed, "On the feast day." Whose plan do you think is going to prevail? Their very attempt to avoid the festival will be the instrument God uses to ensure it happens precisely at the festival. Their caution will be undone by the greed of Judas, who will provide them with the opportunity to arrest Jesus "by stealth" at night, away from the crowds they feared. They will think they have gotten their way, seizing Him quietly. But in doing so, they will be playing their part in God's perfect script, ensuring that the Lamb of God is slain on the very day appointed for the sacrifice.
This is the doctrine of divine providence in action. God does not negate the will of sinful men. He does not force them to act against their own desires. Caiaphas and the priests are fully responsible for their wicked choices. They act freely, out of their own envy and hatred. And yet, in their very freedom, they are accomplishing the predetermined plan of God (Acts 4:27-28). God's sovereignty is so absolute that He can weave even the sinful threads of human rebellion into the beautiful tapestry of His redemption. He is the master chess player, and His opponents, thinking they are making their own clever moves, are in fact only moving the pieces exactly where He intends them to go for checkmate.
Conclusion: Whose Schedule Are You On?
This passage forces a fundamental question upon us: whose timetable are we living by? Are we living according to our own plans, our own fears, our own calculations of what is prudent and safe? Or are we living in submission to the sovereign clock of God?
The world, like Caiaphas, is constantly making its plans in defiance of God. It says, "We will build our tower. We will make a name for ourselves. We will define our own morality. We will determine our own future." And for a time, it may seem like their plans are succeeding. But the Lord who sits in the heavens laughs. He holds them in derision. He has set His King on Zion, His holy hill.
For the believer, this is the source of our deepest peace. Our lives are not a series of random accidents. Our sufferings are not meaningless. The wicked plots of men, the chaos of nations, the turmoil in our own hearts, none of it can derail the plan of God for our good and His glory. He is working all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Jesus knew the time of His death, and He walked toward it with resolute purpose. He did not shrink from it, because He knew it was the Father's will for the salvation of His people. He trusted the Father's timetable. We too must learn to trust His timetable. When we are in the midst of trials, when our plans crumble, when the wicked seem to prosper, we must remember the two councils. We must remember that behind the frantic, foolish plotting of men, there is the calm, sovereign, and perfect plan of God. And His clock is the only one that keeps the right time.