THURSDAY

First Fairhope

THURSDAY

Matthew 26:17–75, Mark 14:12–72, Luke 22:7–71, John 13:1–18:27

(For a full account of the events of this day, see Matthew 26:17–75, Mark 14:12–72, Luke 22:7–71, John 13:1–18:27.)

The Thursday prior to Jesus’s crucifixion fills many pages in Scripture. It begins with John and Peter securing the upper room. There, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, explaining He is there to make them clean.

As they begin to eat, Jesus announces one of them is about to betray him. Each wonders if He means them. Then He dispatches Judas to do what he intends.

During this last supper, Jesus sets apart the Passover bread and cup and reassigns—or better, perfects—their meaning. The bread is his body. The cup, his blood. This meal will no longer remind them of God’s deliverance primarily from the external tyranny of Pharaoh, but from the internal tyranny of their own guilt and sin against God.

Jesus prays for his friends and those who will come to know him through them—that His Father would make them one (John 17). Then Jesus and His friends leave for the Mount of Olives to pray (Mark 14:33). But He isn’t there only to pray. He is also there to wait. Soon a line of torches snake their way toward Him in the darkness. This is what He has been waiting for.

(Fr. Thegospelcoalition.org)

MONDAY

MONDAY For a full account of the events of this day, see https://www.esv.org/verses/matthew%2021%3a12%e2%80%9322/, https://www.esv.org/verses/mark%2011%3a12%e2%80%9319/, https://www.esv.org/verses/luke%2019%3a45%e2%80%9348/.) If Jerusalem was a beehive, with his triumphal entry Jesus had hit it with a stick. You could hear the buzz grow as the anger within got organized. His kingly arrival was a strong declaration about His authority over all the conventions of man. On Monday, Jesus returns for more—this time to declare the failure of God’s people to live up to their covenant mandate to be a blessing to the world. Much of what the Gospels tell us about Monday centers on the theme of Jesus’s authority—both over the created world and his right to judge it. Everything Jesus did, He did with authority. So when He awoke His disciples Monday saying He wanted to go back into Jerusalem to teach, as risky as it sounded it wasn’t surprising. Everyone sensed something stirring, as if Jesus had rounded a corner and His end was coming fast. He was a marked man. (fr. http://thegospelcoalition.org)

TUESDAY

For a full account of the events of this day, see https://www.esv.org/verses/matthew%2021%3a23%e2%80%9326%3a5/, https://www.esv.org/verses/mark%2011%3a27%e2%80%9314%3a2/, https://www.esv.org/verses/luke%2020%3a1%e2%80%9322%3a2/, https://www.esv.org/verses/john%2012%3a37%e2%80%9350/.) If Monday’s arrival in the temple was an all-inclusive, living parable of cleansing God’s house, Tuesday’s entrance is a direct, verbal confrontation with the appointed leadership. After Jesus clarifies He doesn’t regard these leaders as having any authority over Him, He spends the rest of the day right there in the temple to teach the people God’s Word. But Tuesday afternoon is the last time Jesus publicly teaches in the temple as a free man. His words on this day are His closing argument, His manifesto. When Jesus leaves the temple on Tuesday, the chief priests and scribes are “seeking how to arrest Him by stealth and kill him” (https://www.esv.org/verses/mark%2014%3a1/). But they can’t take His life from Him solely on the strength of the charges they plan to bring—not if He defends himself. But He won’t. Instead, by His silence, He’ll offer up His life for a world of blasphemers and traitors and liars. This was what He has come to do, and as He exits the temple that Tuesday afternoon, He knows He will do it soon. (fr. http://thegospelcoalition.org)

WEDNESDAY

(For a full account of the events of this day, see https://www.esv.org/verses/matthew%2026%3a6%e2%80%9316/, https://www.esv.org/verses/mark%2014%3a3%e2%80%9311/, https://www.esv.org/verses/luke%2022%3a3%e2%80%936/.) The past several days have been a rush of tension and anger for Jesus’ opponents—and of unflinching resolve for Jesus. Words have been His currency, and He’s spent piles of them. But on the Wednesday before His death, Jesus is still. He is in the home of Simon the Leper, a man known by what’s wrong with Him. During their meal together, Mary of Bethany—Lazarus’s sister (https://www.esv.org/verses/john%2012%3a3/)—comes to Jesus with an alabaster flask of perfume. She’s been saving this perfume, worth a year’s wages, for this exact occasion (https://www.esv.org/verses/john%2012%3a7/). She begins pouring it on Jesus’ head and feet, which requires breaking open its container (https://www.esv.org/verses/mark%2014%3a3/). Like popping the cork on a $20,000 bottle of champagne, this was a deliberate act. She is offering Jesus everything she has. By giving her most valuable possession to Him, she is expressing her knowledge that what He’s about to give of Himself is for her. What Mary does is beautiful, and Jesus wants everyone to know it. She is preparing Him for burial. There is honor and kindness in her gesture. Jesus returns the honor by saying history will never forget her act of beauty. And we haven’t.