Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
3 25 2024
HOLY WEEK
This week, I hope to break down for you, Holy Week, chronologically as it is recorded in the Gospels. I hope you will follow and learn and pass on to others the special significance of this special Holy Week. Part of my offering this week to our Lord is to provide a devotional every day this week , including Saturday, to help you stay focused on Holy Week and Easter.
What did Holy Week look like?
All of salvation history leads up to and goes forth from these events.
The passion/scourging, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
It’s called by a large part of the world Holy Week.
Pastor Dale Brooks in the years before Grace Family Church when Senior Pastor Craig Altman was his youth pastor. He orchestrated extravagant productions for holy week and Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday began with what seemed to be half the church dressed in tunics and sandals showing what the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem might’ve looked like. Palm Sunday would begin his final week and initiate His passion/His scourging and ultimately his death and resurrection.
It is common for my family to place palms on the entrance to our home to commemorate Jesus riding in on a donkey to the accolades of thousands of waving palms and chanting Hail the King of the Jews.
After three years of ministry, knowing he was going to the cross to pay our debt, I wonder what that felt like in the midst of that triumphant march.
They cheered him one day, they called for his crucifixion the next.
Close your eyes in your quiet time this week and try to follow him on his journey. Try to see what he saw and perhaps feel what he felt. Most of us do not celebrate Passover like our Jewish brothers. But on Palm Sunday, they thought the deliverance of the Jews from the Roman captivity was finally here. According to Mark 11:11, Jesus returned that evening to Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem.
He likely stayed with his friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.
I’m sure he must’ve been thinking about the difficult days that lay ahead for him.
Monday of Holy Week: according to Matthew 21, Mark 11 and Luke 19 Jesus returned to Jerusalem and seeing the shameful practices in the temple area, cleansed it. In His righteous anger, He drove out the money changers and the thieves within his own house. John’s Gospel also records that Jesus rebuked the unbelief of the crowds. Mark 11:19 He returned to Bethany that night. Jesus was obviously jealous of His desire to purify us. That has not changed to this day
Tuesday of Holy Week – according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus returned to Jerusalem where he was confronted by the Pharisees regarding what he had done in the temple the day before. They question his authority. People are still questioning his authority today. He taught using parables. The parable of the vineyard Matthew 21:33–46 The parable of the wedding banquet Matthew 22:1
The teaching on paying taxes Matthew 22:15 In the rebuke of the Sadducees who denied the resurrection. Matthew 22:23
It was also the fearful prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem if the people did not come to faith in him; Jesus warned that not one stone would be left on another Matthew 24 Take the time to read the Scriptures with your family this week and listen carefully to his final teachings just before his passion.
Wednesday of Holy Week: it is called by some Spy Wednesday because it was on this day Judas betrayed and handed Jesus over for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26:14 Jesus likely spent the day in Bethany. That evening Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus with costly perfumed oil. Judas objected but was rebuked by Jesus, stating that Mary had anointed him for his upcoming death. Matthew 26:6
The wicked have been continually plotting against him for the last 2000 years. Are you praying?
This week we will discuss more of Holy Week and Black Friday… tune in!
|Don’t let this be just another devotional. Let is be a call to arms. Let it be a time of deep introspection…repentance…and rededication to our Lord Jesus.
Don’t let this week pass like any other week. It Isn’t!
Honor him. Worship him. Invite others to Raymond James Stadium.
Plant that seed that may give them eternity.
Jesus is watching.
Father, Son, Spirit (Official Lyric Video) // A Table Full Of Strangers // Jason Upton
