Passion week is the most important week we as believers celebrate. This is the week starting with the triumphal entry (Palm Sunday) and culminating with the Resurrection (Easter). To help with reflecting on the days between the triumphal entry and the Resurrection, below is a compilation of devotionals written last year regarding the Passion Week.
Monday
And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Mark 11:17
The day after Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly on a donkey, he began to disappoint the expectations of the people. As the people were shouting, “Hosanna”, they were expecting Jesus to come back as a king in the way of David. They imagined him conquering the Romans, rallying the priests of the temple to unity, bringing political and social hope to a disenfranchised people. Instead, Jesus entered the temple and called them out on their sin. Instead of unifying them, he separated them. Instead of glorifying the temple, he cleansed it. Jesus, the conquering king in the line of David, seemed to be more of an enemy of the Jewish people than their king.
Keep reading here.
Tuesday
Mark 14:3, 8 – Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head…8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.
The unnamed woman in Mark’s account emptied her savings in worship of Jesus. The expensive perfume was probably a dowry for her hopeful wedding or an investment in her line of business (the woman may have been a former prostitute, so this perfume would be tied to her lively-hood). In either case, the woman’s offering cost her a lot. The woman saw Jesus as a worthy recipient of this precious treasure.
Keep reading here.
Wednesday
“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.” Mark 14:10-11
Every good story needs a good villian. Right in the midst of Jesus’ final week leading up to the cross, Judas becomes the ultimate villain. Judas was a man who walked with Jesus just as long as the other disciples. He witnessed the same miracles, heard the same teaching, lived the same close life with Jesus as the rest of the disciples. But instead of devotion, Judas decided that thirty pieces of silver was worth betraying his rabbi to be killed.
Keep reading here.
Thursday
Mark 14:24-25 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ blood was poured out to establish the new covenant, the better covenant. I can only imagine the disciples again being confused by Jesus’ words at the Last Supper. Jesus depicts the wine as His blood! I can imagine the disciples thinking, “I don’t remember this part of the Passover meal. Jesus, you’re not saying it right.” It is to the disciples’ benefit and ours that Jesus re-wrote the Passover celebration. Jesus actually reveals the truth that the Passover meal was foreshadowing – that is, God’s passing over our sins because of the blood of Christ!
Keep reading here.
Friday
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:37-39
The Messianic secret is a theological idea that runs throughout the book of Mark. After Jesus heals people, he tells the recipients to keep it to themselves. After he does several miracles, he tells people to keep it a secret. Jesus even silences the demons when the demons shriek out, “What do you want with us, Son of God?” At almost every turn in the book of Mark, Jesus goes out of the way suppress knowledge of His true identity.
Keep reading here.
Saturday
“Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56
The day after Jesus died, the disciples and the other Jesus followers retreated behind closed doors to observe the rest of the sabbath and process the events of the day before. What began on the previous Sunday as a triumphal entry and the expectation of victory by the disciples and others with Jesus quickly devolved into accusations, betrayal, and ultimately the brutal, gory death of Jesus on the cross. The disciples were probably deeply confused, heartbroken, scared, and dejected. Without knowing what was about to happen on the next day, the events of Good Friday amounted to complete hopelessness.
Many of us as Christians live as Saturday Christians. We live with a deep reverence for the price paid on the cross, enormous guilt over knowing Jesus took our sins on his cross, that he suffered for our lives, but we forget about Sunday. It is unlikely that the disciples at the time understood the atoning sacrifice that occurred on the cross the day before. But if they had understood it completely, their lives still would have been covered in sadness and pain without knowing how the story ends.
Keep reading here.
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