After his prophecy about Jesus entering Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, the prophet Zechariah was given another word from the Lord regarding the coming Messiah.
Zechariah writes:
12 Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.
13 “Throw it to the potter,” the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Zechariah 11:12-13 (HCSB)
This prophecy refers to when Jesus would be betrayed by one of His twelve apostles, Judas, who agreed to sell Him for 30 pieces of silver to the religious leaders of the day. These leaders would then arrange with the Romans to have Jesus arrested and taken into custody.
14 Then one of the Twelve—the man called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” So they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him. 16 And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him. Matthew 26:14-16 (HCSB)
Judas told Jesus’ opponents when and where they could find Jesus to arrest Him on the night of the Passover. When they and a party of Roman soldiers arrived, Judas betrayed Him with a kiss of friendship on the cheek. As God, Jesus could have easily resisted any attack, but He permitted Himself to be taken into custody without resistance, knowing that He would be unfairly tried, brutally beaten, then crucified unto death, as a result. He did this voluntarily, knowing that He, alone, was the only acceptable sacrifice worthy of providing a complete atonement for the sins and unrighteousness of the world.
Zechariah’s prophecy was thus fulfilled. But afterwards, Judas was filled with guilt and grief.
3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. 4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said.
“What’s that to us?” they said. “See to it yourself!”
5 So he threw the silver into the sanctuary and departed. Then he went and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests took the silver and said, “It’s not lawful to put it into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they conferred together and bought the potter’s field with it as a burial place for foreigners. 8 Therefore that field has been called “Blood Field” to this day. Matthew 27:3-8 (HCSB)
Jesus was fully aware of everything that was happening around Him. This was the reason He had come to earth – to establish a new covenant that would address the wide gap between a holy God and sinful people. The chasm separating God and humans would be bridged by Jesus’ death on the cross and the shedding of His blood. At His final Passover meal, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, practiced to this day to remember His role as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world for all people of faith.
As the apostle Paul later wrote:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way, after supper He also took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant established by My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (HCSB)
Forty days after rising from the dead, Jesus would ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. He will return the same way one day to rule and reign over the world from a new Jerusalem, as King and High Priest. In the meantime, as we wait, He has directed us to remember Him and His loving sacrifice on the cross through the bread and the cup of His new covenant.
As believers in Christ, we are encouraged to participate in the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, to celebrate Jesus’ wonderful sacrifice and the grace that flows to us as a result. None of us is worthy to stand before God on our own works, merit, or goodness – we require the complete washing and purification that only the death and resurrection of Jesus can provide, through faith in Him. And His value far exceeds thirty pieces of silver – in fact, He is priceless.
Reflection
If you have not yet received Jesus and His cleansing, won’t you invite Him into your heart and life today, and freely drink from the living water of the Holy Spirit? Jesus has been with you every moment of your life, through the joys and gladness as well as the sorrows and pain. He deeply loves you and is watching over you today.
Lord, thank You for being with me every moment, through the tears and the laughter, the successes and the failures. Help me to walk ever closer with You, and to live a more holy and blameless life, one day at a time. When I fail, help me to get up to do a better job of reflecting Your love to others. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a blessed and beautiful day in the Lord today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 