Thursday night turns into Friday morning. Jesus is in agony praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The 11 disciples are sleeping and Jesus is in distress. The 12th disciple is somewhere within the walls of the city darting down a street. His feet are clean, washed by the hands of the man he will betray. His heart has been claimed by the evil one. The final encounter has begun. Judas comes with temple guards and betrays the Lord into their hands. And he does it all with a kiss. Meanwhile, the other 11 disciples are now wide awake and begin to leave Him...one by one. Jesus is taken into custody and 6 trials begin to ensue. The First Trial - Annas the high priest looks for an accusation biding ti
On this day of Holy Week the following things took place: -Peter and John make preparation for Passover -Jesus washes disciples feet -The Last Supper (Passover) -The Garden of Gethsemane We’re familiar with Good Friday…Easter most certainly. But what is Maundy Thursday? Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter and was the day of the Last Supper when Jesus celebrated his final Passover with His disciples and was the last meal He ate before dying on the cross. Also, that Passover meal was when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples in an unprecedented display of humility. He then commanded them to do the same for each other. Maundy Thursday marks an important part of Holy Week. It was als
Wednesday of Holy week is sometimes referred to as Silent Day or Spy Wednesday…Silent Day, because no record in the gospels specifically mentions Wednesday activities for Holy week. But there was a lot going on as Jesus prepares for the Last Supper and as Judas and the Sanhedrin prepare for Jesus’ arrest. The big event of Holy Wednesday is Judas’ decision to betray Jesus. Although the betrayal doesn’t take place for another day, scripture gives us insight about Judas’ intentions and it adds depth to our reading of the Last Supper, which we’ll encounter tomorrow. Here’s the short but crucial scene from Wednesday of Holy Week: “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief pr
Today, Jesus leaves Bethany and walks right past the fig tree that is now completely withered from the roots up. That’s the power of Faith! Here is Mark’s account: “And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter said to Him, ‘Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.’ And Jesus answered saying to them, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him.” Mark 11:20-24 Teaching On Faith In the coming days, all the disciples’ faith will be put t
This will be a very different Easter this year. As we continue to be physically distanced from one another as the church, I want to take this time to help us focus on the events in Jesus’ life that led up to Resurrection Sunday. I’m calling it Countdown to the Cross. During this week we call the Passion Week of Christ, we will focus on what Jesus did each day on His way to the Cross and the Resurrection. Holy Monday - What does Holy Monday say to us as we are being forced to be physically distanced from each other on a level unprecedented in our lifetimes? It was only yesterday that Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly on Palm Sunday as recorded in Mark 11:1–11. After Jesus entered Jerusalem
