April 8, 2017 (Saturday)
Palm Sunday will be celebrated tomorrow. On that day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was welcomed; on Friday he was crucified. The week is so important that John devotes half his gospel to it (chapters 12 through 21).
As he rode into the city on a donkey, people put palm branches in his path as they might for a king, and shouted, “Hosanna!” It was a Hebrew expression meaning “Save!” which became an exclamation of praise. He briefly visited in the city and in the Temple, but as the sun sank low on the horizon, he went with his disciples to Bethany, to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
The next day, Monday, he came back to town and into the Temple, where he drove out the merchants and money changers, cleansing God’s house and declaring it a house of prayer, not a “den of thieves.”
On Tuesday he returned to teach about the final judgment and the end of the world, fearlessly denouncing the Scribes and Pharisees as religious hypocrites, unfit to be leaders, clean on the outside and filthy within.
When Wednesday came, it found the religious leaders conspiring to put Jesus to death. At Bethany, Jesus was anointed for his burial with costly perfume by a devoted follower.
On Thursday evening, Jesus observed the Passover with his disciples, washing their feet to teach humility and leading the first observance of “The Lord’s Supper.” Continuing to teach them, he went to Gethsemane, where he agonized in prayer before being arrested and taken to seven separate trials before being condemned to death by the Roman governor, Pilate. By this time it was Friday morning. At 9:00 a.m. he was nailed to a cross, and at 3:00 p.m. he died. His body was taken down by loving hands and placed in a tomb. The Roman authorities rolled a great stone in front of the tomb to make sure it was sealed. As the Sabbath began at sundown Friday, Jesus’ body lay in the tomb. He was dead and buried.
On Sunday morning…but wait, I’ll have to tell you the best of the story, later.