Holy Week: Tuesday

Tuesday - a hard day. This was the last day of Jesus public ministry and his last day in the temple. He arrived early in Jerusalem and did not return to Bethany until late at night. This was the day Jesus voiced his hardest teachings. I wonder if, to buffer Tuesday, it is one of the reasons Jesus needed a good night at Bethany. I am camped out today in the seriousness, the authority, the weight, the conviction, of Jesus' words.

Surely he must have been tired of explaining his authority. Tuesday the chief priests met him walking into the temple, throwing questions at him to trap him in his words. They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” Mark 11: 27-29

Surely he must have been tired of speaking in parables. Tuesday was the day he told three most serious parables - the parable of the two sons, the parable of the tenants, and the parable of the wedding banquet. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Matthew 21: 35-41

Surely he must have been tired of battling worldly authority. Tuesday was the day Jesus delivered one of his most quoted verses of our day. "Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. Matthew 22: 17-22

On the way home from Jerusalem, Jesus stopped at the Mount of Olives and, overlooking the Temple, he gave the Olivet Discourse - explaining about the soon coming destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem due to rejection of the Messiah (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21). Full of the Holy Spirit, The Word spoke last words. Some at the Temple, but most to his disciples. He knew what he needed to say, what needed to be emphasized, what points he needed to drive home. Careful and measured, every word was foundational, pivotal, piercing.