“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant.
‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him.
‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read,
‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?
And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.”
Matthew 21:12-17
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APRIL 14, 2025
This coming Sunday is the big day, the ultimate Christian celebration: Resurrection Sunday. Yesterday, we remembered the coming of a humble, peaceful King to the holy city of Jerusalem, cheered on by crowds, honored by His people.
But what a week lies ahead. Having entered Jerusalem, Jesus gets into one confrontation with the religious leaders after another. He curses a fig tree, clears the temple, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, and throws down some startlingly provocative parables.
Then, He celebrates Passover with His closest friends. One betrays Him, another denies Him, none of them can pay attention much less save Him. The next day, Jesus is killed through one of the most brutal methods of torture humans have devised: crucifixion.
Then the Jewish week comes to an end, and the chaos must stop for a moment. After being laid in a borrowed tomb, nothing more can be done until Sabbath is observed. It is, in so many ways, the end.
But Sunday dawns, the first day of the week. This day will become the beginning: the first day of the rest of history.
In this history-altering week, the long-awaited King arrives not with the symbols of war but of peace. And in peace, He lays down His own life, victoriously swallowing up death.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What a busy final week for Jesus! What is He trying to accomplish in Jerusalem in the days before the Passover?
- What is the impact on His friends, followers, and enemies?
- What is His impact on you?
Church Reading Plan: Exodus 25; John 4