If you were here two weeks ago, we started talking about Passion Week, the celebration of the week leading up to the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection.
Here is a very basic rundown of the week before the resurrection of Jesus:
- Sunday – The Triumphal Entry
- Monday – Jesus cleanses the temple
- Tuesday – Jesus challenges the Pharisees
- Wednesday – Judas cons pires to have Jesus arrested
- Thursday – Jesus celebrates Passover meal, arrested
- Friday – Jesus is crucified
- Saturday – The disciples hide in fear
- Sunday – Jesus rises from the dead
Even though today is officially Palm Sunday, we talked about Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem a couple of weeks ago. Remember, Jesus comes to Jerusalem, where He is greeted by people shouting, Hosanna, which means save us. People lined the streets and laid down their garments and palm branches because they knew they were welcoming their King.
However, their expectations were that Jesus would take up an earthly throne and fight on their behalf against the Roman tyranny and would restore Israel to its former glory. But Jesus had different plans. His Kingdom is not earthly but is the Kingdom of God. Yes, He came to save them, not from the Romans but from their sin. He came to restore Israel, not to its former glory, but to restore them and all of us to a right relationship with our Heavenly Father by paying the price for our sins once and for all time.
As the week progresses, however, it becomes apparent to the people of Jerusalem that Jesus did not come to save them from the Romans. On Monday, Jesus enters the Temple and drives out all the money changers, those buying and selling and taking advantage of people who had come to worship.
Matt 21:13 (CSB)—He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”
On Tuesday, Jesus continued to upset the apple cart in Jerusalem when asked if they should pay taxes to Cesar. To their surprise, this was His answer:
Matt 22:18-22 (CSB)—Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them. “Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Jesus continues to have run-ins with the religious leaders, the Pharisees. They continually try to trap Him with tricky questions. But Jesus answers their questions with insight and wisdom. At one point, while talking to the Pharisees and calling them out on numerous things, Jesus says this:
Matt 23:27-28 (CSB)—“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
At this point, Jesus is not winning any popularity contests. He is ruffling a lot of feathers and pushing a lot of buttons. But that is what the truth does sometimes. It is offensive. It is hard to hear. We tend to push back when someone points out our shortcomings.
I receive a regular blog post from Pastor Jon Tyson. He is the pastor of the Church of the City in New York. He is very insightful and I enjoy reading his posts. This past week, he talked about being weary of pleasing people. He opened his blog with this quote from economist and professor, Tim Jackson:
“We are persuaded to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to create impressions that won’t last on people we don’t care about.”
—Tim Jackson
How much time and energy and resources do we spend on worrying about what people think about us? How many hours of lost sleep have we given to worrying about a conversation we had with someone and replaying that repeatedly in our mind because we were worried about how we came across?
And then Tyson goes on to remind us of Jesus’ words in Luke 6:26:
Luke 6:26a—Woe to you when all people speak well of you
Jesus’ point is that you can’t live a life that pleases God and also pleases all men. Those two types of lives are at odds.
Tyson puts it this way:
“We live in a world of reputational management. Maybe it’s because we have a fear of being canceled. Maybe because there’s biblical truth to a good name. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because we want to be liked and need the approval of others more than we’re willing to admit.But here’s the problem: if your identity is always up for vote, you will live in chronic anxiety—always adjusting, always performing.”
—Jon Tyson
This is the antithesis of Jesus.
Instead of managing His reputation, Jesus was carrying out His mission.
Jesus knew exactly why He was in Jerusalem. He states it very plainly in Luke 19.
Luke 19:10 (CSB)—For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.
What I’m saying to you is that Jesus’ focus on His mission led Him through the conflict and torture that awaited Him. He did not waver and was not worried about pleasing men because He knew His mission.
How about you? Do you know your mission? Do you understand why God has placed you where you are? Do you understand that God has gifted and called you to a specific mission? Can you articulate what that mission is?
On Wednesday, often referred to as Spy Wednesday, tradition says Judas slips away to conspire with the officials in the Temple to have Jesus arrested. Why does Judas betray Jesus? Was it because of greed and the thirty pieces of silver he received? Some have suggested over the years that he was attempting to push Jesus into a situation where he would indeed take up an earthly throne and liberate Israel from the Romans. Whatever the reason, on Wednesday, Judas makes plans to betray Jesus.
Thursday comes. During the Passion week celebration, Thursday is referred to as Maundy Thursday. For Jesus and His disciples this is the day of the Passover meal. It is the day that all Jews celebrate Passover together. What is the Passover?
We find the impetus for the Passover in the Book of Exodus. Many of you know the story. God heard the cries of His people in slavery in Egypt, and He sent Moses to be His spokesperson to Pharaoh, telling him to let God’s people go. Of course, Pharaoh says, not on your life, and so God sends ten plagues on Egypt to convince Pharaoh otherwise.
God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and mark their doorframes with its blood, in addition to instructions for consuming the lamb that night. That night, God would send the Angel of Death to bring about the tenth plague, in which he would kill all the firstborn in Egypt. But when the angel saw the blood on the Israelites’ doorframes, he would pass over their homes so that the plague would not enter.
This meal commemorates that moment in Israel’s history. The disciples did not understand that Thursday night around the dinner table, the Passover in Egypt was a foretelling or a picture of what Jesus would do for us. Jesus is our Passover lamb, and when his blood is applied to our lives, we are forgiven and receive new life. The punishment for sin passes over us, and we are freed from our captivity to sin. It’s a beautiful picture.
So, Jesus tells the disciples to prepare for the Passover meal.
As they sit down for the meal, Jesus sees that no one has taken on the task of washing feet. In dusty Israel, when you came to someone’s home for a meal, it was customary for one of the servants to wash your feet.
Jn 13:4-10 (CSB)—So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.” “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said. Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Jesus goes on to explain why He did this.
Jn 13:14-15 (CSB)—So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.
Jesus is preparing the disciples. In his final moments with them, he is giving them some of the most important teachings they will receive from Him.
And then Jesus says this:
Jn 13:34-35 (CSB)—“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
This is why Thursday is often called Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from a Latin word that means “command.” Thus, Maundy Thursday is the Thursday Jesus gives a new command.
After the meal, Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus prays with such intensity that He begins to sweat drops of blood. Knowing what is before Him, He is not deterred from His mission.
A group of men from the Temple guard find them in the garden. Judas approaches Jesus and kisses Him on the cheek, signaling to the guards which man they are to arrest.
Jesus is taken and questioned by the High Priest, Caiaphas. They accuse Him of blasphemy, spit in His face, and begin beating him, saying, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who was it that hit you?” This goes on throughout the night.
Friday morning, referred to by us as Good Friday. They led Jesus to the governor, Pontus Pilate. Pilate finds no reason to condemn Jesus and offers to let him go. During Passover, it was the governor’s custom to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted to be released. Pilate offers the crowd Jesus or a man named Barabas.
Matt 27:20-26 (CSB)—The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to execute Jesus. The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” “Barabbas!” they answered. Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all answered, “Crucify him!” Then he said, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they kept shouting all the more, “Crucify him!” When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves!” All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them and, after having Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified.
They make Jesus carry the crossbeam to the cross He is to be crucified on. They lead him to a hill called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. They nail a sign to the cross that reads, “King of the Jews.” They lay him down on the cross. They drive nails through the Achilles tendon on his feet. They then stretch him out on the cross and drive nails through his hands. They then stand the cross up and drop the main beam into a hole. As the main beam meets the bottom of the hole, the shoulders of the person being crucified are often dislocated. It made the slow, excruciating death by crucifixion that much more painful.
At this point, most of the disciples had scattered in fear. John and a few of the women, including Jesus’ mother, who had followed Jesus, were there to witness His crucifixion.
Jn 19:28-30 (CSB)—After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in a borrowed tomb. He has fulfilled His calling and almost completed His mission, but it is only Friday.
Chris Hankel 
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