Form or Function? (Mark 14:1)
"It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him." (Mark 14:1 NLT) At this particular moment in Jesus' life and ministry He was preparing to give His life for the sins of humanity. Ironically enough, verse 1 says that a group of His peers were at that very moment plotting His death. Hang on now. That sounds a lot like first degree murder. What kind of mental disorder would allow someone to justify such a heinous crime? Religion. The very ones that were called and entrusted to lead God's people had bought into the lie that their behavior was somehow justified as the lesser of two evils. Their logic was, "well if it's between allowing Jesus to corrupt Israel with His teaching and killing Him, what choice do we have? From the outside looking in that sounds ludicrous. But when dealing with a Religio...