We call it “Passion Week” – the week that began at Palm Sunday and ended with the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday. The word “passion” comes from the Latin word which means “suffering.” To enhance your worship and appreciation for what Jesus did for us all, let’s follow Jesus through the Scripture during this most important week in human history and understand how the events of each day related to His substitutionary death and Glorious Resurrection.
It’s Tuesday….Today, we’ll see temple controversies and dynamic teaching from our Savior. As Jesus and His disciples were traveling to Jerusalem from Bethany that morning, they had to pass that same fig tree Jesus cursed yesterday. They saw that it had indeed withered (Mark 11:20).
Today, the temple became a theological battleground between Jesus and the religious establishment, who were trusting in themselves for righteousness, rather than asking God to apply His mercy to them.
I want to give you the challenges to Jesus on this day, and let you read how the Lord responded. We’ve been through many of these in our study of the Parables but look at them afresh, with their timing in your mind. How do you think Jesus’ teaching is sitting with the Scribes and Pharisees? Look at these 5 questions:
1. “By what authority are you doing these things?” Read Matthew 21:23-22:14; Mark 11:27-12:12; Luke 20:1-19
2. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Read Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26
3. “In the resurrection… whose wife will she be?” Read Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40 (keeping in mind that the folks asking this question did not even believe in a future bodily resurrection)
4. “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Read Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34
And then this ultimate proclamation of His Godhood from Jesus Himself in the form of this question:
5. “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the Son of David?” Read Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44
Jesus then condemned the Scribes and the Pharisees. Read Matthew 23:1-39; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47. Then, as He is leaving the temple, and traveling up the Mount of Olives, His disciples ask Him 3 questions, which produce what we call the Olivet Discourse. We spent weeks on this during our Revelation study, but it is our Lord’s own sermon about judgment and the end times. Read Matthew 24:1-25:46. Just 40 years later, the temple was destroyed. Not one stone was left upon another, just as Jesus had prophesied. That came true, just as His explanation of future events will.
So, after all this – if you were a Scribe or a Pharisee, what would you be thinking? You can almost feel the tension building in them as you read these interactions. Jesus told them the truth – time after time – and they rejected it. Don’t reject God’s truth.