Matthew 26:55 and 56.

Imagine this – “A large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people,” with Judas leading them, rushed to kill Jesus.  What were these people thinking? Why all this hate against the lowly, unarmed, lone Jesus?

Jesus answered simply, “Because the Scripture said it should be this way.” (My phrasing,) How it should happen did not concern Jesus much at all.  However, that he should be the promised Lamb of God did not only matter but it was the only thing that did matter!

Many lambs were sacrificed that night at Passover meals in Israel and wherever the Jews lived in the world.  Jesus was one of the “lambs” but the only One whose blood can atone for the sins of the world.

So ended the Passover feast for Jesus and his twelve.

Then one of the twelve, Judas, delivered Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities. The others had no idea  what to do. They just disappeared.  It was bedlam.

How about this conclusion to the most important feast ever enjoyed by the nation of Israel?  “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”  v 56  To be sure, the meal is over.

Is that the way to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth?  Exactly, as we shall soon see.