Choosing Destiny

Sometimes things don't appear the way they truly are.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, "Surely, not I?" He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as I wrote it of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. - Mark 14:12-26

Jesus had everything prepared for them to celebrate the Passover meal, and his friends did not even realize he had done that.

We read these stories and get the impression that Jesus knew what was about to happen and yet he chose not to do anything to change them.

Was he unable to have a choice?  Or did he choose to have these things come to pass as the prophets foretold them?

It is possible Jesus was showing us something about our human nature.  It is about the battle that rages within us between faith and doubt.

We want to believe that we have control, that we can make choices and determine our fate, but something inside us tries to convince us that our destiny is set, that we can do nothing to change it.

If we believe that we have no choice in the situation, that what will be will be, regardless, we can give up, give in.

Is that what Jesus did?

Did he hold up a mirror to us to show us we choose to have no choice?

As he sat down to eat with his friends, he set in motion a series of events that would lead to his crucifixion, and he chose not to defend himself.

We have to come to grips with that.  It is how we are as humans.  

He will come back to show us there is a better way to be, but we won't understand until he does return.

If he fought and defended himself, how many would believe in him today?

The proof of his divinity could only come with his resurrection, and he understood that.

Like the catepillar who chooses to turn into a butterfly, Jesus had to give up this life for the one he wanted us to see.

So, what is the message for us?

Do we go along with the inevitable, or do we fight?

It comes down to a personal choice, doesn't it?  If we believe in eternal life, shouldn't we be willing to sit down and have our last supper without fear?

Ah, but we are human, after all.

More to come...