Passover Puzzle

Herod Antipas the Fox

When all the factions had exhausted their tests, Jesus addressed a pressing issue: Passover was only two days away, and the nation still did not accept the divinity He shared with the Father. If they accepted His divinity, they would have accepted His sacrifice. Therefore, Jesus posed a question about the Messiah and King David in a way that forced them to acknowledge Him if they answered truthfully. The attentive crowd waited anxiously during those consequential moments to hear their reply, but the stubborn teachers lowered their heads, choosing to remain awkwardly silent. “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions” (Matthew 22:45 italics). The examination ended abruptly. The shame-faced teachers refused to answer. They refused to acknowledge Him as the Christ. They rejected the Messiah, the worthy Lamb of God.

Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, had arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover. Kings are lions, but Antipas was a weak ruler who held his position by wily craft, a Herodian trademark. He had beheaded John the Baptist, so certain Pharisees thought they could frighten Jesus, who was a Galilean, with the king’s arrival in the city. Herod did not intimidate Jesus. Let him do his worst. The Lord would walk in safety until the preordained final hour. The Great Prophet still had the remainder of that day and two more full days left before the clock struck midnight, and He would complete the full course to perfection. The Lord would continue to minister to the people until the eve of His crucifixion, despite any threat Herod Antipas might pose:

And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures⁴⁸ to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (Luke 13:31–33).

Inclusive Reckoning

Jesus explained how inclusive reckoning works. The third day means today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. Jesus repeated the time phrase for emphasis, surety, and clarity⁴⁹. Both phrases are equivalent. Jesus referred to the time that remained for His ministry. He would continue to heal and cast out devils until Passover without any peril of perishing. Only after Thursday night would anyone be permitted to lay hands on Him. Jesus could only have said this on Tuesday because, on Thursday night, He was in custody to be crucified.

The leaders stopped their examination, but Jesus was not done with them. In front of all, Jesus exposed their hypocrisy, and He warned the people not to follow their example. Now they were filled with seething rage, and they convened another meeting later that evening for no other purpose than to plot how to take His life.

On that Tuesday, the Lord turned His back to the temple with sorrow, and He never returned to it again. Previously, He called the temple His Father՚s house. This time He said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate…“ (Luke 13:35; Matthew 23:38). Christ had fully presented His case and had warned the nation of its impending doom for three inclusive days, but the religious leaders would not heed the warning. They rejected Christ as the Passover.

Divine pity marked the countenance of the Son of God as He cast one lingering look upon the temple and then upon His hearers. In a voice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears He exclaimed, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” This is the separation struggle. In the lamentation of Christ the very heart of God is pouring itself forth. It is the mysterious farewell of the long-suffering love of the Deity (DA 620.1, Luke 13).

Outside the temple precincts, however, a group of Greeks, who represented the world thirsting for a more satisfying way of life, were waiting to hear His words. A thunderous voice from heaven gave them witness that Christ was the son of God and that the Father accepted His sacrifice as an oblation. Many refused to process what they had just heard. While seeing, they saw not, and while hearing, they heard not. They bluntly attributed the booming voice to bothersome thunder.

Others heard and believed, but they failed to embrace the truth, afraid to jeopardize their stature as popular teachers. The light they once held flickered and dimmed without their knowledge, and they fell off the path. While parting, Jesus told everyone to walk in the path of light while they still had light. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).