Passion Week - Tuesday

We pick up Tuesday morning after a day which saw Jesus further deepen the divide between the religious people (Pharisees) and truth seekers. There's little doubt Jesus' righteous anger at the Temple sealed whatever questions the Pharisees about the threat Jesus represented to their power.

There is a great chart from bible.org, which shows the week in great detail and can be found here.

So, what happened today?

Jesus and the disciples came upon the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before. A key moment in is found in Mark 11:20-26 when Jesus declares,

Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your sins.” ©NET

Yes, pray, believing and not waver in your faith...but, if you harbor stuff in your heart it appears God isn't in the deal making business. It's a pretty serious business of forgiveness, and God intends to make sure our hearts are in a good place in order for fellowship to be truly rich!

They entered Jerusalem and Jesus returns to the "scene of the crime" (at least to the Pharisees and other religious folks) as he walked through the temple area. Who is waiting for him? The whole gang! They immediately ask him by what authority he is doing what He is doing what He is doing, and who gave him the authority.

Implicit in that question is the religious leaders thought they had the authority, and since they obviously didn't give him the authority, who did? The danger of being religious, being caught up in rule following, is if others aren't doing what you're doing, they're doing it wrong. The religious make the final judgment theirs, forgetting God gets the final call.

Jesus turns the tables, and asks them a question. As you probably know, asking questions is the position of leverage because questions in these settings put the person giving the answers on the defensive. Jesus was so skillful in returning questions with questions, that in Matthew 22:46 it notes nobody wanted to ask him anymore questions!

Needless to say, the questions Jesus asked often penetrated right to the root of the issue. The religious leaders were in a corner, could not answer and in Mark 11:33 Jesus simply answers and begins teaching in the temple.

Jesus shares four parables before a debate with the Sadducees about the afterlife which Jesus succinctly tells them, "You don't know the scriptures or the power of God". Yikes!

The ultimate moment in the Temple came in Matthew 23:1-36 where Jesus brings the hammer down on the religious leaders by "Woe'ing" them into a rage. There's no place for showmanship in following Christ, and he means to make it clear the humble heart finds Him before the do-rights. As always, the humble heart seeks to please God while the do-gooders seek to please themselves. We've all been the do-gooder and we have to be careful that our motivations for "doing right" come from a place of wisdom and not a place of "look at me".

John 12 fills in some blanks, powerfully so, before makes his way out of the Temple and toward the Mount of Olives. Before leaving he looked around the Temple and said in Matthew 24:1-2 that the Temple would be destroyed but raised in three days!

Jesus is now at the Mount of Olives and begins to teach more as He lays out the signs of the end times (quite extensively), persecution of those who follow Him (with great cost), and His return as triumphant king.

Each generation since has wondered, hoped, debated the signs of the times and if their generation is the one. Jesus knew the questions, and made sure to answer with a curious story about a fig tree.

Remember the fig tree? He now uses it near the end of Tuesday to remind his followers about signs. Jesus was the Master storyteller because he was able to take every day things illustrating Kingdom truths. We all can see the signs of spring, summer, fall, and winter. There are markers along the way that foretell the changes. For some, it could be their knees while others can smell the seasons change.

All Jesus was telling his followers, and us, is be alert because no one knows the time. So be ready, and make the time count. Matthew 25:13-15 and Mark 13:33-37 underscore this principle.

Jesus wraps up Tuesday on the Mount of Olives (which is where he stayed each night after teaching in the Temple during this week) by emphasizing life will be pretty much normal when God returns. He uses the days of Noah as an illustration by noting when the flood came, people were eating, drinking, marrying, and living life. There was nothing apocalyptic about the Return of the King.

Yet, the juxtaposition is shown in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, (Matthew 25:1-13) as they didn't take note of the time, got lazy because the thought the master was taking his own sweet time. A few were wise and took stewardship seriously enough to be prepared, while others simply let their lamp go out. There's a good lesson here: Keep your lamp lit!

Finally, the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-40) wraps up by what you and I may see as an exhausting day.

For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Jesus finishes the day by exhorting his followers to give themselves away, use the gifts God has given, and in doing so, you live a full life! Whenever the focus of your life is on you, you're going to be miserable. When the focus of your life is on God and serving others, there is no shortage of blessings and abundance.

It doesn't mean life is pain-free, but it does mean life is more full and, ultimately, that's what Jesus came to give - life to the full! (John 10:10)

And maybe Tuesday was exhausing, because tomorrow is eerily silent for the disciples and Jesus.

Others, however, were not silent - Judas makes his final deal and the plot to kill Jesus unfolds.