This day, which started at 6PM, was the most intensely critical 24 hours in all of history. They are the last hours of the Lord Jesus’ physical life on earth. These hours are given more attention and painted in much greater detail than any other period of time in Jesus’ life — and obviously for good reason.
It begins with what is known as the Last Supper. To detail and expand all that occurred at this last time of fellowship and teaching would take an entire book; but since this is only a blog posting, I will do my best to summarize. This was a Passover meal; not only did Jesus and the apostles refer to it as such, but Luke gives us a glimpse of detail that others don’t as he mentions Jesus passing around a first cup of wine to begin things, as was traditional at a Passover meal. Unfortunately, the meal began with a disagreement about who would be the designated foot-washer for the meal (John 13). This was considered a very lowly job for the person who was lowest on the “totem pole” of status; but it is a job which Jesus voluntarily took up to quell the argument and teach a crucially important lesson that the apostles had struggled over for almost the whole time of Jesus’ ministry, the greatest would be the servant of all. In the midst of this Passover meal, Jesus took some of the usual elements of the meal and gave them new significance. He took the unleavened bread on the table and told them that it would now be used as a token of remembrance of the body he would be giving in death for them and us all; He blessed it, broke it, and passed it around to them all to eat of. Similarly, He took a cup of wine and gave it a new meaning; it would be a token of remembrance of His blood, the agent of purification from sin and also of the new covenant. John tells us that Jesus spent a good deal of time after establishing the Lord’s Supper in comforting the apostles with teachings about the Holy Spirit and praying for their strength and unity.
After the meal was done, the Gospels tell us that they all sang a hymn and left for Gethsemane, a garden on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. On the way, Jesus warned the apostles of the arrest and that they would be scattered. Peter vehemently proclaimed his loyalty to suffer prison or even death for the Lord, but Jesus told him that before the rooster would crow that morning, he would deny Jesus three times. In Gethesemane Jesus settled 8 of the apostles in one group to pray, but then led Peter, James, and John a little farther and likewise charged them to be praying so that they would not enter into temptation. Then Jesus walked a little farther still and fell down in fervent prayer. In this prayer He famously asked the Father to let the cup of suffering He was about to endure pass from Him — yet, not as He willed but as the Father willed. Clearly Jesus had free will to choose whatever He wanted, but He trusted in the plan and will of the Father. This prayer, the Scripture tells was very intense and fervent, so much so that Jesus began to sweat drops of blood. So deep was His grief, that the Father sent an angel to strengthen Him in His time of agony. After this time of prayer, Jesus returned to Peter, James, and John and found them asleep. He roused them and charged them with prayer again, then He returned to His own prayer. After a while He returned again and found them asleep once more. Jesus let them continue their slumber and returned to pray a third time until the betrayer and the Roman cohort were almost upon them.
Passover is always during a full moon, and April is often a dry time of year. It is likely, then, that Jesus had been able to watch Judas and the soldiers leave the city, walk across the Kidron Valley, and up the slope to Gethsemane. But He didn’t run or seek to escape; underscoring the deliberate attitude of Jesus to do the Father’s will. Judas led the crowd of soldiers right to Jesus and with a kiss on the cheek of greeting, he showed the soldiers who they should arrest. The kiss, however, wasn’t necessary; Jesus readily admitted to being Jesus of Nazareth, so that the soldiers might allow the apostles to walk away free. But Peter drew one of the swords brought along for defense and turned it into a weapon of offense to protect Jesus. He took a swing at the high priest’s servant, Malchus, and cut off his ear. Jesus, however, healed the wound on the spot and told Peter to put the sword away. From here everyone seemed to have scattered, including a young man who had followed Jesus and the apostles to Gethsemane in nothing but a sheet; most scholars believe it could well have been Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark.
Although Peter ran away like the rest, he and John did continue to follow Jesus and the soldiers at a distance. Because John’s family was acquainted with the high priest’s family, Peter and John were able to enter the court of the house. A fire in the middle of the court for a little warmth had been kindled, and Peter joined a circle around the fire to take the night chill off. While there, one of the servant girls identified Peter as a follower. Peter denied it. Another person around the fire, a relative of Malchus, also recognized Peter, but again Peter denied knowing Jesus. Finally, antlers person told Peter than He must be a follower of Jesus, because he had a Galilean accent; to this Peter swore that he absolutely didn’t know Jesus. At that moment the cock crowed, Jesus looked directly at Peter, and Peter remembered Jesus’ words and went outside the courtyard and wept bitterly. In the high priest’s house, Jesus faced both Annas and Caiaphas who questioned Him about His teachings, hoping to find something to accuse Him of before the Sanhedrin and the Roman governor, Pilate. At dawn Caiaphas sent to convene the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus. Here they asked Jesus if He was the Son of God and Jesus answered yes. This, the Sanhedrin believed, was blasphemy and worthy of death. The problem, however, was that the Romans had received for themselves alone the authority to execute capital punishment; so they needed to send Jesus to Pilate.
The accusation that the high priest and Sanhedrin made against Jesus had nothing to do with blasphemy, but rather sedition, calling Himself a king. when Pilate asked with Jesus, however, it became apparent that Jesus was not claiming to be physical king, but a spiritual one. Pilate sought let Jesus go by appealing to the people and by trying to trade Jesus for a well-known murderer, Barabbas. Finally, Pilate agreed to condemn Jesus to death, but sought to soothe his conscience by ceremonially washing his hands in protest against the religious officials and bloodthirsty crowd that they had whipped up to chant, “Crucify, crucify!”
In preparation for crucifixion, it was necessary to weaken the condemned with a terrible flogging that made ribbons of Jesus’ back. The pain and shock was enough to kill some men before they were ever crucified. After the flogging, Jesus was forced to carry His own cross beam for the cross. This proved to be more than His weakened physical body could manage, and He stumbled. A passerby, Simon of Cyrene, was forced to carry the cross beam the remainder of the way to Golgotha (translated: Place of a Skull). Here Jesus was laid down on a cross as soldiers drove nails through the fleshy part just above both wrists. Then His feet were drawn up slightly and also nailed, probably through the arch of the foot. The cross then was raised and dropped into a pre-dug hole causing the body of the Savior to pull against the nails. The priests who had been responsible for His condemnation stood before Him and mocked Him. Soldier gambled for Jesus’ clothes, the condemned were usually stripped naked and clothes were valuable. From 9AM to about 3PM Jesus suffered enormous physical pain, but it may have been the spiritual pain that was the most unendurable, as Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The Son, for the first time in all eternity, was separated from the Father, because the sin of the world was being laid on Him — Isaiah 53:6 “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” At the end, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” and He died.
Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple, but a man with status in the city, approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. When Pilate allowed it, Joseph took Jesus’ body and put it in His own new tomb, which was not far away from the scene of crucifixion. A hasty embalming process was undertaken and a large stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb. Additionally, a Roman seal was put on the tomb to discourage any tampering with the body, and a guard of Roman soldiers was stationed there to stand guard — just in case Jesus’ disciples might try to steal the body and falsely claim a resurrection. And then the Passover Sabbath fell over Jerusalem.
What do these things mean?
The bread and the wine — This ritual, which became known as either Communion or the Lord’s Supper or Breaking Bread, became a weekly observation in worship every first day of the week very early in the life of the church (see Acts 20:7). There’s a two dimensional aspect to the Lord’s Supper that should be noted here. In the bread we remember Christ, whose body was given to be punished in our place should be remembered (a vertical dimension), but as a matter of communion, too, we remember the one body that we are as the church (1 Cor. 10:17), a horizontal dimension. In the cup we remember the blood of Jesus given to forgive us our sins and establish a new covenant with God (vertical), but since we are in covenant with the Father, we are all related to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (horizontal).
The prayer for unity — This prayer uttered by Jesus in the upper room with His apostles was in the midst of a number of other important teachings about the Holy Spirit. Pay close attention to John 17:22 ““The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” This is different from the union of the denominational world, where everybody is “OK” and we’ll just ignore the differences. The unity of the Father and Son is much, much more — real oneness.
Two more observations — although there are thousands in this section of Scriptures: In the story of Peter and what we know happened later, we can find hope for those who fall in a moment of weakness and confusion — it needn’t be fatal. The Lord is gracious.The Lord seems to specialize in fixing broken things and making them something glorious. Peter the denier became Peter the proclaimer. Maybe you’ve dropped the metaphorical ball in your life with sin or even a sinful set of years in your life, but in Christ there is always a “But God…” What do I mean? Consider this:“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…made us alive” (Ephesians 2:3-5)
Just a couple words of closing comment here: Read Isaiah 53.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
A Walk With Jesus Through His Last Week — Monday
I certainly hope that everyone is doing well today. I pray that all of my readers (as I write, we are almost all under “stay at home” orders because of the COVID-19 pandemic) are staying healthy and maintaining strong faith in the God Who keeps us as the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8) and good humor despite the trials of staying at home, concern about finances, and the anxiety of not knowing what tomorrow might bring.
We left off yesterday with Jesus leaving the Temple in the evening for Bethany. That evening is, according to the Jewish reckoning, Monday. He stayed at the home of Simon the leper (there’s bound to be a great story there that we may never know until we get to Heaven). Although the evening’s meal was at Simon the leper’s house, Martha (sister of Lazarus and Mary) was serving as hostess. Lazarus was there and also Mary. Although we do not know all the details, there are indications that Mary might have taken on the task of washing feet of the diners that evening; however, as she came to Jesus’ feet, she offered a most expensive present.
Over Jesus’ feet and head she broke and poured an alabaster vial of expensive perfume, pure nard (according to John 12:3). This caused no little kerfuffle among some of those present. John notes that it was Judas especially who was offended that such an extravagant “waste” had occurred; a vial of such perfume was worth as many as 11 months’ wages. Judas, John makes clear was not merely a budget hawk, but rather was offended that it had not been sold and put into the common purse over which he presided and out of which he often helped himself (otherwise known as theft or embezzlement).
Jesus rebuked the indignant stir among the disciples and defended Mary’s gift. Indeed it was extravagant, but Jesus accepted it as a burial anointment before His coming death and burial. He continued to defend Mary’s gift by reminding those who thought it would be better used to help the poor that they would always have the poor to help, but they would not always have Him —again alluding to His impending death. This gift of kindness, these “flowers” before His funeral, Jesus said, would be remembered about her everywhere that the Gospel was preached, and indeed it is found in three of the four Gospel accounts. This rebuke, however, seems to have had motivated Judas to perhaps seek revenge by speaking to the chief priests about betraying Jesus.
The next morning Jesus left Bethany and on the way passed a fig tree. He looked for figs, but there were none, because it was not the season for figs. The season for figs is generally from mid-June through August, yet it was early April. Nevertheless, Jesus pronounced a curse on the tree. Later that day, on their return to Bethany, the disciples noticed that the fig tree had withered. Jesus used the fig tree as an illustration of the power of faith-filled prayer, that we’ll talk about later in this post.
When Jesus arrives at the Temple, Mark tells us that he found that the money changers and other merchants had returned to turn the house of prayer into a marketplace once again. And again, Jesus drove them out. Some have suggested that since Matthew and Luke note that Jesus cleansed the Temple on Sunday, that Mark must’ve have been mistaken. Others grasp at this so called discrepancy and try to discredit the Scriptures as be man-made and full of factual errors. But the truth is that both could be true. John records yet another cleansing of the Temple in the early part of Jesus’ ministry. Could it not be that Jesus did this several times in the course of His ministry and that the Gospel writers are merely reporting different instances? In fact, it makes good sense that if Jesus was incensed at this marketplace atmosphere once, He would have been incensed many times. One wonders if every time the merchants saw Jesus walking through the Temple gates they started urgently finishing up whatever business they were conducting and began bagging coins as fast as they could. Incidentally, archaeology has discovered coins in the water drains of the Temple in Jerusalem from Jesus’ era. In my mind’s eye I can see the tables being overturned by the Lord, coins rolling everywhere, including toward the drains and dropping in for us to discover as token evidence of this very incident. One by product of this cleansing of the Temple was anger from the chief priests, who allowed merchants to “rent” space in the Temple. Merchants being driven away equalled no income for them. It was just one more reason they had to get rid of this pesky Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus, on this Monday before His death, appears to have spent the rest of His day in the Temple. Because of raising Lazarus and the wonders He performed in healing the blind and lame who came to Him, Jesus naturally drew crowds and appropriate praise and celebration especially from the children who had come to the Temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” You’ll recall from yesterday that “Hosanna” was a word loaded with praise-for-God meanings. These spontaneous outbursts of praise provoked criticism, again, from the chief priests and scribes, who saw it as blasphemous. Jesus responded simply, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” As if to say, “Are the kids recognizing something that you are ignoring? “ And of course, they were — signs, healing miracles, and even the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
What do these things mean to us?
First, Jesus’ teachings in connection with the fig tree is a powerful one. There are some who have a hard time getting past Jesus withering a tree, just because it didn’t have any fruit out of season. This wasn’t petty revenge, however, it was intended to teach the disciples and us something important. It was to teach us about the power of faith-filled prayer. It is way too easy to lose faith in prayer, when we don’t see immediately results or the results we were expecting; and that’s why there is as much teaching in the Bible about it as there is. There are a lot of reasons why prayers disappoint, but the one that Jesus wanted to point out here, not long before His death, is lack of faith. Praying in faith is not about how earnestly you pray, nor about how much oomph you might put into it. Rather, it is about what you are willing to do in conjunction with your prayer. Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark (11:24) were, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Paraphrased, Jesus is saying that after our petition in prayer we should then turn around and act like God is going to give it. I like to to use the illustration of Israel as they crossed the Jordan River. The priests were commanded to march forward toward the river, which was in flood stage, even though the waters were not held back until the soles of the priests’ feet touched the water. Too often we ask for things in prayer and then wait for God to do everything like a cosmic waiter — then feeling disillusioned because our faithless prayer wasn’t answered.
What about this possible third cleansing of the Temple? We must realize that trying to right bad situations won’t happen overnight. It takes persistence, perseverance, and consistency. Do don’t give up trying to encourage a non-Christian spouse, trying to correct a wayward child, trying to change injustice or error. Jesus’ efforts were many times ineffective — like cleansing the Temple, trying to correct the Pharisees, or getting the apostles to quit fighting over who would be the greatest — but He didn’t give up; and neither should we.
Lastly, it is almost inexplicable that they chief priests and scribes should be seeing the same miracles, seeing the same signs, hearing the same wonderful and true-to-the-Scriptures teachings and be seeking to put Him to death. And yet they were! The only explanation can be that they were so invested in the status quo of financial gain, prestigious position, certainty of their own righteousness, and their traditional teachings that they could not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Now we could cluck our tongue as such blindness or we could realize that we ourselves are not immune from this kind of blindness. Being faithful to God means staying humble, listening carefully, examining everything closely, and being fiercely loyal to God above all.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.