My intentions were to blog each day this week about Holy Week, and what Jesus did on each day. I made it two days in a row before the wheels fell off. I was absolutely gassed last night when I got home (as in tired, not as in inebriated), and I just didn’t have it in me. I’m pretty much in the same boat tonight, and anything I write would be contrived and probably worthless.
I have been trying to think a lot about history’s Most Important Week. I’ve been thinking of what it must have been like for the Lord to know that IT, the ONE THING He came for, was finally upon Him. We’ll see His prayer in the garden tomorrow (Lord willing), but tonight, the Gospels are largely silent. Tuesday was actually a really full day, with many of the parables and sayings that we’re familiar with being spoken by the Lord.
For example, Mark 12:41-44 tells us about when Jesus observed the people giving their money in the temple, and how the rich put in much. But Jesus comments not on their wealth, but on the widow who gave two pennies. She, Jesus said, “put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” while the rich “gave from their abundance.”
Quite an observation to make two days before Jesus will give ALL He had, holding nothing back. You see, He had far more than all the wealthy who were giving, yet He would hold nothing back. He would give out of His own abundance until there was nothing left to give.
I wish I could see myself as the widow in this, but unfortunately, I’m right there with the wealthy, giving my 10% and feeling good about it. Praise God Jesus died for me and for the widow, amen?
But Jesus told many other things to His disciples in these last few days before His betrayal, death, and resurrection. He talked about the coming Kingdom, and about how the Temple of His Body would be torn down but then rebuilt in 3 days. He talked about the signs of the end times and how we need to be watching and waiting (Matthew 24-25). It’s really remarkable how much He did in these last few days. But I guess if you knew you were going to suffer and die, and you were leaving a bunch of fisherman around to change the world, you’d want to make sure you covered some pertinent information before you left. Evidently, they needed quite the refresher course, because after the Resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days with them teaching them everything again!
So a lot was done Monday and Tuesday, but it seems like Wednesday was a day of rest for the Lord. Passover began on Thursday at sundown, and soon after that, the Passion would begin. But tonight, I imagine the Lord must have been enjoying time with His friends, and probably enjoying time with His Father (for He often went off by Himself to pray).
I imagine He was pretty reflective, as we’re want to be on the eve of a major life event. I can see Him looking around at His friends, and thinking back to when He called them all. Imagine how far they had come these three years! John had transitioned from a “son of thunder” to the “the apostle whom Jesus loved.” Matthew had left his lucrative tax business to follow Jesus. Remember Phillip’s face when Jesus told him to feed five thousand men with two fish and five loaves?!!! Or Peter’s faith to step out of the boat and walk on water, and then his decision to look at his circumstances instead of at the Lord?
This night, I imagine, was one last “any night” for the Lord and His disciples. This was, really, the last normal night on earth. Not just for Jesus, but for us all. For after this night, after this “hump day”, the world would be forever changed. After this peaceful night, nothing would ever be the same again.
The Wading Pool 