A Week to Remember

PALM SUNDAY

This week, known as Holy Week in the church calendar, commemorates the week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Yesterday was celebrated as Palm Sunday and called to mind the scene of people throwing coats and branches on the road as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Some may have wondered why Jesus was riding on a donkey’s colt. This was not how a king came to conquer, but that didn’t deter them from praising him. They shouted:

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest! Mark 11:9-10

Had I been there, I would like to think that I would have joined the joyful celebration. Some Pharisees in the crowd must have gotten tired of hearing the shouts because Luke 19:39 tells us they asked Jesus to rebuke those praising him. Here is what he answered:

I tell you, if these become silent, the very stones would cry out. Luke 19:40

Some of these same people may have been the ones who later in the week cried, “Crucify him!” It would not surprise me if the religious leaders who hated Jesus influenced some of them. Nevertheless, for now, they were praising Him.

JESUS WEEPS

As they neared the city, one can only imagine the depth of emotion that would have filled Jesus as He stopped to look down over Jerusalem. He knew what was coming, and it made him weep for the people of Jerusalem. What compassion he had!

As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you." Luke 19:41-44

According to Mark’s gospel, when Jesus entered the city, He went to the temple and looked around at everything. After this, He and the twelve disciples went to Bethany, perhaps to stay overnight at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus since it was late.

MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK - CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

The following day, when He arrived at the temple, he found people buying and selling. The first thing he did was overturn the tables and throw out the money changers. He was upset to see what they were doing in a place that was supposed to be holy.

¹² Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. ¹³ 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!” ¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. Matthew 21:12-14

Jesus was rightfully angry but also full of love.

I get angry sometimes, and I wish I could say it was always for the right reasons, but that would not be true. Sometimes, when I am tired, things irritate me more, but that doesn’t justify my anger. Thank God that He loves me and knows I am weak. Instead of condemning me, He forgives me.

Even the children shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

This made the religious leaders happy, right?

Wrong! It made them furious!

As we continue with the following few verses in Matthew, I love the answer Jesus gave them.

¹⁵ When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant ¹⁶ and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read:

You have prepared praise
from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?” 

¹⁷ Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

THE COMPASSION OF JESUS

Did Jesus make people clean up their acts before He went to them? NO!

He knew they could not change without him. He looked at them with compassion right where they were in their messy lives and has done the same for us. Jesus made it clear how important love is when asked what the greatest commandment in the law was.

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:37-40

Would you pray with me?

Dear God,

My heart is overwhelmed by the love You have for me and all Your children. Without the compassion and obedience of Jesus, I would be forever lost. Thank you for making me Your child. Help me to love You most of all and to love others well. “Hosanna to the King of kings! Hosanna in the highest! In Jesus’ name, amen.

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