holy week: Christ's intentionality in His burial

the Messiah is dead.  it is day seven of holy week.  the disciples are in hiding.  judas is dead.  the chief priests and elders are gloating.  the romans are going about life as usual.  just another dead criminal to keep the jews in their place.  all looks to be lost.  but even in His seeming defeat, Jesus has orchestrated everything according to His divine plan.  this applies even to the details of His burial.

Jesus is dead.  make no mistake about that.  there are those that say that He merely passed out from shock or exhaustion, but scholars and scientists have refuted this fact time and again based on both Scripture and historian accounts.  but this is just the setup to the climax of history.  as i've repeatedly mentioned, everything that is included in Scripture is important (yes, even the "begats" in the old testament!), and this is even true in the details of His burial.  first, we see that Scripture says, "He was dead and buried."  this seems like an odd statement to us today.  after all, when referring to people who died, we don't say they died and were buried, unless it's in an obituary giving the reader a location of their grave.  but in everyday conversation, we don't say, "my grandmother died and was buried."  we simply state, "my grandmother died."  so why did Scripture include this statement?  there are a few reasons.  in documents from the ancient near east, and throughout Scripture, we see that statement included, and it was meant to signify that the person really was dead.  in those days, they didn't have autopsies or coroners to verify death, and there were no death certificates drafted to verify that a person really was deceased.  burial was meant to affirm the death of someone.  so when Scripture says that He was dead and buried, it was meant to verify to the reader that Jesus was truly dead.  after all,  you don't bury someone who isn't dead.  the writers of Scripture included this statement to counter ahead of time any arguments that Jesus didn't truly die.  they realized that people would be skeptical, so they wanted to be sure and leave no doubt that Jesus actually died and subsequently rose from the grave.

the second detail in the account of His burial is that He was placed in "a new tomb in which a body was never laid."  in order to understand the reason for this detail, you have to look at the burial practices in first century palestine.  in those days, a body would be prepared and laid in a family tomb, which was cut out of the rock.  it would be prepared with fragrant oils and spices to cut down on the smell during the decomposition process, and then left in the tomb for a year.  stones would be piled in front of the entrance to keep scavengers away, and after a year, the family would go in and collect the bones into a limestone box called an ossuary, and would be either relocated and buried, or if the tomb was large enough, collected in the back of the tomb.  if multiple people died in a family within a year, there would be multiple bodies in a tomb at one time.  so by the gospel writers saying that there were no other bodies within the tomb, it was also giving credence to the resurrection.  it was not a case of mistaking His body for another within the tomb.  it was also due to Jewish ceremonial laws.  anyone that came in contact with a dead body would be considered unclean.  the Messiah would have to be placed in a tomb with no other dead bodies for Him to be considered ceremonially pure throughout His burial and resurrection.  

the other reason for the gospels mentioning He was buried in a tomb, was to establish that He had a designated burial place.  in those days, criminals who were crucified were usually taken down from the cross and thrown into a ravine and left for the animals.  if a family came and requested a body, they were allowed to take the body and bury it, but they were not allowed to have a funeral or mourners.  Jesus had all of these details pre-ordained ahead of time to make sure that every detail was taken care of to refute any possible argument against His resurrection.  

have you ever felt like you were defeated, like things couldn't get any lower?  this appeared to be the lowest Jesus could get, having just suffered the most painful and humiliating death, and then having to be buried in a borrowed tomb with no one around to mourn His death.  but even in despair, God had a plan, and that plan is always perfect.  so remember, when things look to be hopeless, and you think that God has all but forgotten about you, even in those moments when you are at your lowest, He is already working the details to take care of you when you come out of the low.  

An example of a tomb entrance near where the tomb of Christ is located.

The interior of a family tomb.

The place where Christ was laid.

holy week: tenebrae - a service of shadows

 good friday.  the day of the crucifixion.  for today, instead of a normal post, i wanted to share with you a service called tenebrae, which is a service meant to remember the cross and Jesus' sacrifice.  this service is normally done in a large dark room, with different people reading each station of the cross.  it is meant to symbolize the Light of the World slowly being extinguished.  i encourage you to watch it, and as you do, listen to each station.  and remember.  without the cross, there is no Resurrection Sunday.  without the cross, there is no sacrifice for sins.  without the cross, we have no hope for salvation.  so watch, as you pray, "lead me to the cross."

holy week: the intentionality of Christ in the passover meal

 day five.  there is so much to unpack on this day that essentially a whole book could be written just on the events of maundy thursday.  from the annointing at bethany, to Jesus' washing the disciples' feet (a task usually reserved for the lowest of servants), to the passover meal menu, the conversation at the table, and depending on whether you follow the jewish or the western calculation of a day, you could include gethsemane, peter's and judas' betrayals, the abandonment of the disciples, the arrest in the garden, and the trials before the sanhedrin.  i encourage you to take some time and study each of those aforementioned topics, because there is so much to unpack and really brings a greater understanding of Christ and His ministry.  due to limited space, i would like to focus on a part of the passover meal that many people do not completely understand:  the elements of the Lord's supper.

in our western traditions of mini crackers and shot glasses of grape juice, or perhaps a styrofoam wafer with a cross stamped on it and an ornate chalice with juice or wine in it that everyone shares, we miss the prophetic aspects of those elements, because we do not celebrate the passover in the same manner as Christ.  as said before, it is important to remember that Jesus and the disciples were jewish, so they would have celebrated the passover in the jewish tradition, which is why it is useful for us to try and look at the events of the gospels through the lens of judaism.  the early catholic church, in an attempt at differentiating itself from judaism (Christianity was originally considered a sect of judaism), removed many of the jewish elements from the observance of the faith, and modified them to make them unique.  many protestant denominations are guilty of the same thing when it comes to catholicism, and have removed anything they see as pertaining to the catholic church, such as lent, advent, and tenebrae (which i will discuss tomorrow in a special video).  the problem with this blanket approach at distancing, is that there are important details in the practices that are shunned that add meaning to the faith, and we end up missing out on.  the passover meal, specifically the Lord's supper, is one of those practices that is full of prophetic symbolism, even more so than we see in our pre-packaged communion kits.

the first element is the bread.  the bread was a reminder to the jews of the manna God provided for them in the wilderness after the exodus from egypt.  the bread used was a form of unleavened bread that was cooked using a grill.  leaven was meant to represent sin in the jewish faith, so unleavened bread was used for the passover meal to represent the absence of sin.  this is an important detail when we look at who the bread represented.  there were three pieces of bread used during the meal, which we now know were meant to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  during the meal, one of the pieces of bread, called the afikomen, was removed from the other two, broken in two, and wrapped in a clean linen napkin and then hidden in the house.  this was a prophetic symbol of Jesus' death and burial.  the children would then go look for the afikomen and the one that found it would bring it back to the father in exchange for a prize, symbolizing the prize of salvation.  the father would then serve the afikomen to the family.  so when the gospels say that Jesus took the bread, the jewish Christians of that day would understand that it was talking about the afikomen, or the bread representing the Son.

the second element is the wine.  during the passover meal, there were four cups of wine used:  the cup of freedom, the cup of deliverance, the cup of redemption, and the cup of praise/thanksgiving.  these were all meant to remind them of an aspect of the original passover:  freedom from slavery, deliverance from the pharoah, redemption of the people through the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, and praise and thanksgiving for God's provision for the jews.  when Jesus took the cup, He was using the cup of redemption, which is why He says, "this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."  He was reminding them that He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  the disciples had not yet grasped fully that Jesus truly was going to die.  they had repeatedly doubted, and even tried to contradict His statements of His coming death, so He was reminding them of this again.  from that point on, after the events of the coming days, when they would eat the passover meal, these details would be forever solidified in their hearts and minds!

this year, whether you use a prepackaged communion kit, a common eucharist cup, or whether you use grape juice (welch's or great value brand) or wine, as you take of the elements, remember these details.  keep in mind that the passover meal, specifically the Lord's supper, was started hundreds of years before Christ was born, and was, and is meant, to tell the story of His sacrifice for the sins of the world, which includes your sins, and mine.  and give thanks for a God who loved us so much, that He would give His only Son to die for our high treason against God, so that we might have fellowship with Him, and get to spend eternity in His presence!

The road in Jerusalem where the upper room was located.

holy week: the intentionality of Christ's inaction

day four.  Jesus has spent the last two days teaching at the temple and on the mount of olives, and has angered the majority of the chief priests, elders, scribes, pharisees, saducees, and other temple officials.  but on day four, nothing is mentioned of Jesus' activities.  some say that the annointing at bethany at simon's house occurred on the fourth day, because Scripture is vague on which day that happened, but most scholars postulate that it happened on thursday given the context of the different accounts of that event.  only luke says rather generically that he taught in the temple during the day, and on the mount of olives at night, but doesn't mention anything specific He taught on that day, unlike other days, or even explicitly says he taught on wednesday at all.  therefore, compared to the other days, it seems that little to no information is given of Jesus' activities.  while we may not know what Jesus was doing, we can imagine that He was likely spending time with those He loved, or preparing for the coming days, but at reading, it seems as if He was disconnected.  there is no mention of Him teaching, or healing, or even preparing.  even though He knew the terrors that were awaiting Him in the coming days, He was choosing to be away from the people, the temple, and jerusalem.  

so why the inaction?  what we do know, is that on that day, the chief priests and elders were plotting to have Him killed.  while earlier during the week, they wanted to wait until after the week was over because of the festival, and feared a riot from the people, their attitude had clearly changed.  we know that they likely met with judas that day and made the deal with him, giving him 30 pieces of silver, the cost of a slave, to betray Jesus at a time when He was away from the crowds.  Jesus knew this was happening, as He brought it up at the last supper when they celebrated the passover meal.  yet we don't read about Him doing anything to circumvent this series of events.   

think about what He could have done.  many think that He was helpless to stop it, but He had a number of courses of action He could have taken.  He could have left and went away from jerusalem.  we know He was likely at bethany, which was a few miles west of the city.  it would have been very easy for Him to leave and go to any of the surrounding countries like His parents did during the slaughter of the innocents.  or, since He had a large following, He could have rallied the crowd to come to His defense before the temple officials were able to fully enact their scheme.  there is a reason that they were afraid of the crowds.  in that day, uprisings were common, and many such uprisings had occurred in the years prior.  during one particular uprising, the romans arrested those responsible and crucified them along the road leading into jerusalem, and then poured pitch onto the bodies and lit them on fire to be used as torches to light the road, and to act as a deterrent to future uprisings.  Jesus' entry into the city on palm sunday was an indication of the people's attitude towards Him, and saw Him as the Messiah that they mistakenly misunderstood as a militant warrior that was to lead the rebellion that would overthrow the romans and liberate them.  He even had a couple of militants as disciples.  we know that peter was willing to fight to defend Jesus, as we see him drawing his sword and striking the high priest's servant when they came to arrest Jesus.  He also had simon the zealot as a disciple.  the zealots were an activist group that were known for their passion for restoring israel, and were directly involved in many of the uprisings throughout the area.  we also see that the disciples came from backgrounds that would have made many of them formidable men to face in a fight.  fishermen were strong and rugged men during that day.  so He had no short supply of people that could lead an army should He so choose.  He also could have gotten the romans involved against the temple officials.  there was no love lost between the jews and the romans, and the romans placated the jews by allowing them to worship in the temple, but truth be told, they would have much rather done away with the temple and the jewish faith to establish the roman pantheon as the dominant religion.  Jesus had gained favor with some of the centurions through the healing of the centurion's servant, as well as with jarius, who was an official in a local synagogue, after He healed his daughter.  so he could have used those connections to alert them of the plot, and had them arrested.  pontius pilate, the governor of judaea, was tasked with getting the uprisings under control, and he would have been keen to know of a plot to arrest Jesus that would have led to a possible uprising among the people.  he no doubt would have been aware of Jesus' presence, given the large crowds present at both His triumphal entry, as well as following Him at the temple and the mount of olives to hear Him teach, and would have had spies watching Him to make sure He wasn't organizing an uprising.  once he saw that Jesus was simply teaching, he would be more concerned with a plot against Him that could have led to an uprising, as we see he was clearly concerned about when he chose to let the people decide to release barabbas instead of Jesus.  if the crowd would have been swayed the other way, you can be assured that he would have gladly had the temple officials arrested to placate the crowd and prevent having to report another uprising to his superiors.  of course, being God incarnate, Jesus simply could have used His divine power to stop all of it at any moment.

yet even though He had a number of actions He could have taken, He chose to not do anything, when he still had enough time to act.  why?  it was because He knew the greater plan that was in motion, and that there was no other way for mankind to be redeemed.  it was for this reason that He became obedient unto death, even death on the cross.  

as flawed humans, it is hard to trust God when we go through difficult times and it seems as if He is not helping.  though we may cry out to Him for deliverance, we only receive silence in return.  paul even referenced this when he said that he had a "thorn in the flesh" that he cried out to God three times to be delivered from it, but received no such deliverance.  it is easy to look from our finite minds at the apparent theodicy around us and say, "If God is truly good and all-powerful, then why does He allow bad stuff to happen?"  the answer can be found on wednesday of holy week.  despite having the unlimited power to deliver Himself from the crucifixion, He allowed the will of God to continue, even though it meant His suffering and death.  because ultimately, the eternal consequences of any other outcome paled in comparison to the salvation of the world.  God's will is always perfect, and even when He chooses not to intervene in the unpleasant experiences of our lives, we have to trust that His divine plan is fulfilling the promise of Scripture that assures us of "all things working together for the good of them who love God and are called according to His purpose."  so while the journey may be unpleasant and difficult, the final destination is worth the trip.

holy week: the intentionality of Christ prophesying about the temple

 it is now day three of holy week.  a full day has passed since the triumphal entry.  the crowd has not yet turned on Jesus.  we know this, because mark mentions that the people were "delighted at his teaching."  the chief priests and elders and scribes have been unsuccessful at finding fault with Jesus and his teaching.  oh, they were plenty mad because they knew that the parables He was teaching were all about them, but there was nothing they could do.  they feared the people, which is another reason we know that the crowd had not yet turned on Jesus.

we know that He was teaching in the temple, which was a common theme in His ministry, because this was the social center of the city.  you would commonly find crowds in the temple, and even more so now during the week of the passover, as worshippers were making preparations for the big day.  in Jesus' day, passover week would be akin to our CHRISTmas week in the western world.  the city, and consequently the temple, would have a significant increase in visitors.  this was why Jesus would spend this week in jerusalem.  due to the large crowds of people, we also see Him teaching on the side of the mount of olives, which was a short distance from the eastern gate and the temple, as mentioned earlier.  there were many lessons that He taught these few days, but one in particular is mentioned in all of the gospels:  the destruction of the temple.  most of His messages this week were on the kingdom of God, and the last days, including the signs to look for.  but then, as the disciples were leaving the temple, they made a point to comment on the beauty of the temple.  Jesus responds, not by agreeing with them, but by saying that the temple would be destroyed so thoroughly that not one stone would be left upon the other.  while the disciples thought that Jesus was referencing last days' events, He was actually commenting on the idolatry of the temple itself.

in order to understand how the temple had become an idol, you have to have a brief understanding of the history of the temple.  prior to having a temple, which was the housing for the ark of the covenant, a tent tabernacle was set up and moved around with the ark during the israelites' wandering in the wilderness.  king david acquired the land where abraham took his son isaac to be sacrificed for the purpose of building a permanent temple to house the ark of the covenant, but due to his many sins, God took this task from him and it was passed down to his son, solomon.  solomon, during his building campaign, took david's vision for a temple and upscaled it, building a lavish temple complex that was considered a marvel of the time.  this was done in the 10th century b.c.  in 586 b.c, the temple was destroyed during the sack of jerusalem by the babylonians, and the jews were sent into exile.  the ark of the covenant disappeared, and much debate has occurred as to its whereabouts, whether it was captured by the babylonians, destroyed, or hidden by secret societies before it could be captured.  in 513 b.c., after the jews were allowed to return to israel, a new temple was rebuilt, though not to the scale of solomon's temple.  this would be rectified in 20 b.c. by herod the great.  herod was considered a half-breed jew, due to his edumean heritage, and was also seen as a roman sympathizer.  he was put into power by the romans, and in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the jews, he decided to rebuild and greatly expand the new temple.  herod spared no expense in building the temple, having the walls covered in gold and jewels.  it was the pride of the jewish world.  this is the temple that Jesus taught in, and that the disciples were commenting on that third day of holy week.

so why was this included in the gospels?  Jesus was making a statement about the temple, but it was not meant to be in passing, nor simply a prophecy of the last days, which was what the disciples initially thought.  He had already made statements about His body being a temple, and being destroyed and rebuilt in three days, to which the jews replied that it took 46 years to build.  the problem with the temple, was that it had become an idol to the jews.  they began to see the temple as a sort of "good luck charm," and because God's presence dwelt in the temple, it gave them special protection.  it was said that jerusalem could never fall as long as the temple was there.  as mentioned in the previous entry, the jews placed more importance on the temple building itself, and the rituals that took place inside, than they did the God that the temple was built for.  Jesus was again reminding the disciples that He had come to fulfill the law, and the need for the temple was to be no more.  this was made evident during his death when the thick veil to the holy of holies was ripped into, allowing all men direct access to God the Father through Christ.  it is important to note that the prophecy came true in 70 a.d., when the romans sacked jerusalem during titus' reign.  the romans not only destroyed the temple as a message to the jews, but they also took every stone from the temple with them for the gold and jewels that were in the walls.  this made the prophecy come true down to the detail about stones not being left on top of each other.  the only thing left is the retaining wall for the temple mound, which is now what we call the western wall, or the wailing wall.  

for us today in the western world, it can be argued that the same attitude exists as did in the jews, with the church building becoming almost an idol to itself.  we have forgotten that the Church proper is not a building, but the collective body of believers.  we have relegated worship of God to one day a week, in multi-million dollar buildings adorned with lavish accoutrements, much in the same way as the temple during Christ's time.  during covid, we saw a shift in attitudes towards the church building, but unfortunately that attitude also shifted towards the Church body.  people not only abandoned the building, but the gathering of believers as well.  this misguided belief that the church building and the Church body was the same thing has caused a drastic decline in church attendance.  meanwhile, in countries like ukraine, we see believers gathering together in underground bunkers to worship.  in closed countries like china and iran, we see believers gathering together in secret to worship.  however, in the western world, we have the errant belief that worship somehow consists of a style, a ritual, or a building, or that worship is entirely a personal endeavor.  we have placed our own personal preferences above the commands of God, thereby making an idol of a building, a style, a preference.  anytime we place any thing above God and His commands, we have created an idol.  we would all do well to remember Jesus' teaching on true worship and the temporal nature of a building, and instead choose to worship Him in spirit and in truth, as part of a daily practice, as well as a regular corporate gathering of believers.

  

The western wall of the old temple foundation, now called the wailing wall.

  

In this picture you can see the dome of the rock, sitting on top of the temple mound.  

holy week: the intentionality of Christ in the fig tree and the temple

as we look at the intentionality of Jesus in His last days, we have to look at the actions He took, and the places He visited.  remember, as i said before, if something is included in Scripture, it is worth studying to figure out why it is included.  for instance, there are two important actions that Jesus did on the monday of holy week:  the cursing of the fig tree, and the cleansing of the temple.  at first glance, these two events seem to be unrelated to each other, but when you take a moment to look at the historical significance of them, you see that they are in direct correlation with each other.  they also have direct application to our lives as followers of Christ.

the first action Jesus takes is on His way into jerusalem.  we learn the events from the day before with the triumphal entry had occurred late in the day, so when Jesus got to the temple, it was largely deserted, and therefore not the time to teach the lesson that needed to be taught.  so He took the 12 disciples and went back to bethany and came back the next day.  on the way into the city, He saw a fig tree with early leaves on it, and went to see if it had any fruit.  when the tree was found to not have fruit, He cursed it and said that it would never produce fruit again, and the tree consequently withers.  this seems like a petty and insignificant, and almost unfair action.  after all, mark said that it was not the season for figs, so why would Jesus curse a tree for not having figs, if it wasn’t even fig season?  was it because He was “hangry” because Scripture mentions He was hungry and went to the tree, and when there was no fruit, He basically threw a temper tantrum and cursed it out of spite?  at a face-value reading, it would sure seem that way, and definitely not becoming of the Messiah.  however, like many treasures in Scripture, in order to find it you have to dig.  whenever approaching Scripture, especially the New Testament, it is important to remember that these were jews living in a jewish culture occupied by the romans.  so when reading the Gospels, you have to have at least an entry-level working knowledge of judaism, a basic knowledge of history of the area, as well as knowledge of old testament prophecy, if you are to properly understand it.  the disciples would have well understood the significance of the fig tree.  there is a reason it is a fig tree, and not a pomegranate tree, or olive tree, or any of the other fruit-bearing trees of the region.  to understand why it is a fig tree, you have to look back at the Old Testament, and the history of israel.  God routinely uses the fig tree as a metaphor for israel in the Old Testament, and being an agrarian society, many such metaphors were used (ie., Jesus using vineyards in His parables).  God repeatedly refers to fruitfulness as a sign of a healthy relationship with Him throughout both the Old and New Testaments.  in the Old Testament, the prophets describe God as inspecting israel for “early figs”.  those familiar with fig trees would tell you that whenever a fig tree starts producing leaves early, it will also produce early figs.  so mark stating that it was not the season for figs, but referencing that the tree had leaves, was an indicator that the tree should have had early figs.  Jesus not finding any and cursing the tree would have conveyed a meaning that was very apparent to the disciples, who had spent three years with Him learning about prophecy and the Scriptures.  the meaning would have been a word picture of the Old Testament’s referencing israel as barren and a rotten fig which occurred during their exile to babylon and assyria, and a recalling of the promise that God would one day replant israel and produce “healthy figs” from her again.  however, just like we are about to see in the temple, the jewish people are celebrating the passover, making a big show of the ritual, but like the fig tree, it is still just a show of leaves, with no fruit.

transition to the temple.  Jesus enters the temple and once again sees the money changers, those that were taking the jews’ roman currency, which was the common currency of the region, and converting it to jewish currency so that they could purchase their sacrificial animals for the passover.  the passover was one of the busiest times of the year for the city, and people would travel from miles around to celebrate and offer sacrifices on behalf of their families, which prevented most from bringing animals with them.  so the temple officials, seeing a financial opportunity, would charge them to exchange their roman currency for temple currency.  Jesus clearly takes great offense with this, and proceeds to overturn their tables, which would have the effect of causing chaos as people scrambled to pick up the flying coinage for themselves.  Scripture then goes on to mention that He also overturned the chairs of the dove merchants.  to understand this, you have to look at the requirements of the law for sacrifices.  those who were able, were required to bring the best of their herd for sacrifice.  the poor, however, who could not afford livestock, were to offer a turtle dove as sacrifice.  again, the temple officials seizing on a money-making opportunity, sold the cheapest of animals to the travelers, with which they could make the most profit.  they couldn't care less whether or not it met the requirements of the law, but rather were the equivalent of umbrella salesmen on rainy days.  therefore, like the fig tree, there was a lot of show in the "worship" taking place in the temple, but there was no fruit behind it.  as long as the temple elite made their money, and the people did the minimal sacrifice, all was good.  Jesus came in, and knew that in order to effectively teach in the temple about proper worship, and reestablish God as the focus of that worship, as He would in the coming days, He would have to remove all of these distractions in order for people to hear His message.  He also knew that by doing so, He would anger the temple officials, which would result in their plotting for His death, yet He did it anyway.

He is intentional in removing those distractions from our lives as well.  many of us are like the fig tree, with a lot of show in our faith, but no fruit present.  we get caught up in the mechanics of church, and relegate our spiritual lives to one day a week on sunday, neglecting Him the rest of the week.  meanwhile, the church has become a consumer culture, with her members gathering for themselves preachers and leaders who will tickle their ears.  the focus gets placed on the music, the comfort level, the style of seating, what the pastor wears, all materialistic things, with the church feeding into that.  the church has become a business, with preachers hawking their latest books, and worship teams selling their latest CDs, complete with marketing teams and celebrity-leaders.  i have a friend who was the pastor of a mega-church in texas, and he left the pastorate because he was getting invited to conferences on “how to get your book onto the new york times bestseller list” and “how to use your church budget to amplify your brand”.  it made him sick to his stomach to see what the church he was pastoring was turning into, so he left to become a chaplain and get back to what he started out to do:  minister to people and share the gospel. 

Scripture warns us as to what will happen to those who do not bear fruit.  John speaks of the pruning of those who do not bear fruit.  it also warns us about the dangers of the church taking her focus off of Christ.  Revelation speaks of the church at laodicea, and how Christ stands at the door of the church and knocks, because the church has become wealthy and carried on like it no longer needed Him and kicked Him out.  may we take this week as an invitation to be intentional in our repentance and to reexamine our faith.  is it self-centered, focusing on our preferences instead of Christ?  or is it ritualistic, having an appearance of godliness, but denying its power?  the people were unaware of their own shortcomings, and the temple was feeding into that ignorance.  Jesus had to cleanse the temple and get it back to its original state in order to teach the people of their need for repentance.  perhaps we need Jesus to come in and strip away all of the consumerism and materialism that has infected and tainted our faith, and clean house and get us back to true faith that is focused on Him.

 

One of the walls surrounding the current city   Underneath those walls are the original walls  

One of the current 8 gates that are open. 

 

You can see the eastern gate in this picture with the cemetery directly in front of it   A large mosque now stands where the temple would have stood.

holy week: the intentionality of Christ in the triumphal entry

 i’ve been thinking a lot about holy week, and i wanted to dust off the blog that i’ve neglected for a while and share over the next week some observations that i’ve had on the days leading up to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  i will make two posts today, because i missed yesterday due to travel, and you can’t start a series on the holy week without referencing the triumphal entry of Christ into jerusalem.  the coming posts will have pictures from my trip to the holy land, as visual guides, and will even likely have some videos.  so i will be changing up the format a bit, but these are necessary changes to fully convey the message contained within the posts. 

as we look at the holy week, i would like for you to take a moment and think with me about your own life.  what if you knew that this was your last week on earth?  perhaps you were given a glimpse into the future and you knew that at the end of the week, you would be killed in a horrific manner, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.  how would you react?  would you go into hiding, hoping it would somehow protect you from the calamity to come?  what if you knew that no matter what you did, you could not avoid the end that awaited you in a few short days?  what then?  i would like to be so bold as to postulate that you would become very intentional in your last days.  you would likely get your affairs in order, ensuring that your loved ones were taken care of, and you would make a point to spend time with those you loved.  Jesus was no different.  so as we go through the next few days, i want to start looking at the intentionality in each of Jesus’ actions in His final days on earth before, and after, His crucifixion, and that starts with the triumphal entry.

when we look at Scripture, we tend to want to focus on the big picture, and miss out on the minute details.  perhaps because it’s easier to do so, and doesn’t require as much work on our part.  humans, after all, have a tendency to be lazy, especially with things that we are not passionate about.  but just as Christ was intentional in His final week, He is intentional in the details that are in Scripture.  if God felt it was important to say, then it’s important for us to pay attention to it.  when we look at the triumphal entry, there is a detail that is mentioned right at the beginning of all four accounts of the triumphal entry, that unless we are paying attention, we dismiss it as a minor detail and then gloss past it to the entry itself.  all four accounts of the triumphal entry mentions two places:  bethphage and bethany.  these were two small communities on the eastern side of jerusalem, both along the same road.  we know that Jesus was staying in bethany in the days leading up to His entry into jerusalem, as this is where He was anointed at mary and martha’s house, which was in bethany.  from bethany, He would have traveled through bethphage, which was on the western side of the mount of olives.  why is this detail important?  it told the direction which Jesus was traveling, and therefore would result in His entering into jerusalem on the eastern side through the eastern gate.  jerusalem, like most cities in the time of Christ, was a walled city to protect it from invaders, and the only way to enter the city was through one of the eleven gates.  on the eastern side, the eastern gate, also known as the lion’s gate, or the beautiful gate, was the only gate, which meant that this is the gate He would have entered.

you may ask, why is the eastern gate an important detail?  there are a few reasons.  first, it was the gate that led directly into the temple complex.  this was to be Jesus’ first destination when He entered the city, because He had business there.  we will get to that detail in the next post, but for now, just know that the temple was a very central point to Jesus’ ministry.  He frequently taught there, already had cleansed it once, and made prophecies concerning the temple.  so the eastern gate was important because it was central to His next task.  from the mount of olives, you would have been able to see directly into the temple.  one of the most striking things i learned in my visit to the holy land, was how close in proximity everything was.  when we read Scripture, we tend to think of the holy land as being very spread out, but many places were only a few hundred yards away from each other.  this is the case with the mount of olives.  as you can see from the picture below, which was taken from the western side of the mount of olives, jerusalem was only a short walk from the mount.  and the eastern gate (now sealed) is directly in view.

the second reason the eastern gate is important, is its significance to the temple operations.  the eastern gate was the gate that the sacrificial lamb would be brought through.  therefore, as in many other details in His life, this pointed to His reason for coming.  even though the crowd outside the gates cried, “hosanna!” meaning “save us!”, expecting Him to liberate them from the roman occupation, He was there for a different salvation.  He was to be the sacrificial lamb that was sufficient for not only the sins of the year, which was the case with the lamb sacrificed each year on yom kippur, but was to be sufficient for all mankind for all time. 

the third reason the eastern gate is important, is its significance in prophecy.  in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 43 speaks of the return of the glory of God to the temple, which would return through the gate facing east, meaning the eastern gate.  in Ezekiel 10, we read about God leaving the temple because His people had turned away from Him, and took for granted His presence in the temple as something that would always be there and as a result jerusalem would be protected.  but a prophecy was made that His glory would return through the eastern gate.  Jesus’ first triumphal entry was the first part of that prophecy.  the second part will happen when He returns for His second coming.  when Christ ascended at the mount of olives, and angel said He would return in the same way, which many scholars interpreted that He would return at the mount of olives.  this meant He would again enter into the temple through the eastern gate.  after jerusalem was destroyed in 70 a.d., the walls and gates, along with the temple, were all destroyed along with it.  in 1538, a muslim ruler from the ottoman empire named suleiman the magnificent had the walls rebuilt on top of the old one, as well as nine of the gates.  for three years after the wall was completed, excitement began to brew among the christian world since the eastern gate was now rebuilt, with talks of Christ’s second coming being imminent.  suleiman feared this so greatly, that he had the gate sealed, and it has remained that way ever since.  he also installed a large cemetery in front of the gate, thinking that a jewish messiah would never defile Himself by passing through a graveyard.  by doing so, he unwittingly fulfilled another prophecy from Ezekiel 44, which states that the gate is to be sealed and remain shut, and no man is to enter through it.  we know the efforts of man to stop God are futile, just as now there is a large mosque called the “dome of the rock” sitting atop the temple mound, but when the day comes, the temple will be rebuilt, and no sealed gate or cemetery will stop the Messiah from reentering it.

as you see, even the gate that Christ chose to enter was intentional.  after all, there were 10 other gates at the time that He could have entered, but He specifically chose this one, and made sure to place that detail in His Word so that those willing to dig and study would find it.  just as He is intentional in these little details, we can apply that to our lives.  there are many times when we feel that things are happenstance, and that perhaps God has forgotten about us.  we take the attitudes of the deists, which believe that God is not involved in our world, that He simply created everything, gave the globe a spin, and then sat back to watch.  this is not the case at all.  God is involved in the seemingly most minute details of our lives.  we just have to learn to trust Him, and to ask Him for eyes to see where He is at work.  i don’t know about you, but this is a tremendous comfort to me, especially in the time in which we live, where people are trying to “fix” God’s supposed “mistakes.”  rest assured in this fact, God does not make mistakes, and if He can be intentional in a small detail such as which gate He enters a city, He is intentional in the same way in our lives. 

as we go through the final week of Christ, i encourage you to look for His intentionality, not only in His final tasks on earth, but also in your life.  as Scripture tells us, “He who began a good work in you, will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus.”    

jerusalem from the mount of olives.  notice the eastern gate that is sealed.