Reflecting on Matthew 28:11-15
“When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan…” (Matthew 28:12)
As a Jesus follower, planning is a part of how we fulfill our mission.
A plan is a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.
That ‘something’ is our mission or purpose.
Jesus came to fulfill God’s plan to rescue humanity and restore creation.
God’s plan includes Jesus, but it also includes Jesus’s followers.
And it also included the people of Israel.
These were represented by, and led by, the priests and elders.
These leaders were responsible to work with God for His plan.
“All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)
Here we see these religious leaders devising their plan.
But their plan was deception and bribery, to protect themselves.
Instead of spreading God’s blessing, they serve their own agenda.
This is the real problem; they had lost sight of God’s mission.
Their faith was about making themselves great, not blessing others.
Jesus comes to share God’s promised blessing with all people.
And this is what got Him in trouble, why He was crucified.
Loving and blessing the wrong people, the wrong kind of people.
He was motivated by God’s character, not self-serving human nature.
This is what sets Jesus apart, and what is so attractive about Him.
This is why sinners, seekers and strugglers were drawn to Him.
They could tell He was there for them, not for Himself.
As Jesus followers, we continued Jesus’s mission and plan.
We come up with our own plans to spread the blessing to all.
We devise ways for our neighbours to experience God’s gracious love.
Not schemes of deception or plans that serve us and our agendas.
We are the religious leaders today, God’s partners in the plan.
But what are the plans we are devising, the agendas we are serving.
Living out God’s mission does not just happen.
We need to be intentional about deciding and doing God’s work.
Whose agenda have I decided to serve – my own or God’s?
What is my plan for achieving God’s purpose in my life?
‘Those who fail to plan, plan to fail!’
We will not achieve God’s purpose if we do not plan for it.
My sense is that we all make plans.
We plan for our work, for our holidays, for our dreams!
We plan for social engagements, we plan for our careers.
We all plan for things that matter to us.
The chief priests and elders did too.
So what do our plans reveal about what matters to us.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, my plans reveal what matters most to me. I realize that I’ve been letting some plans go, things that do matter to me yet I am not prioritizing. I need to (1) decide again that God’s mission matters to me, and (2) devise plans for how I will achieve God’s mission in my life.
Help me to show the same determination as the chief priests and elders, but as one devoted to God’s agenda, not my own. Help me to be a good planner!
Hindsight shows where I have been and it also shows where God was in my daily living. God’s faithfulness even though I may not have recognized it at that time. Each day is His day and each day I need to be an instrument of His peace. I pray that I may be a channel of His peace this day in my living for Jesus. He is my Guide and instructs me in the Way to go. Not my will but Yours be done. Serve Him.