Lenten Special

Jesus’ 33 Years of Life Reconstructed in Chronological Order (II)

(with first page preface and map same as last issue)

7th visit to Jerusalem ? AD 29

Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19)

To get to Jerusalem from the regions of Galilee and Decapolis, one had to follow the Jordan River to the south, passing through Jericho, Bethphage and Bethany.  

Going ahead of His disciples to Jerusalem, Jesus called two of His disciples to go to Bethphage and to bring Him a colt. Compared to horse, a donkey is small and considered lowly. Moreover, it is difficult for a donkey to bear even a child. Seeing Jesus ride this kind of small colt was a spectacle people found difficult to understand. However, in order to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus rode atop this colt, which did not falter, but entered into Jerusalem while carrying the king of all kings upon its back.

At that time, about 2.7 million Jews were in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Passover.

These people rejoiced Jesus’ entrance and cried “Hosanna” as they waved palm tree branches. “Hosanna” means “save us now” from the transliteration of the Hebrew ‘h?s?-?h-n?’ (?????????? ????, Ps 118:25); it was a cry to Jesus, whom they thought was a political Messiah, to deliver a groaning Israel from Roman oppression. Despite the cheers of the crowd, Jesus ? knowing the heart and mind of man ? entered Jerusalem lonesomely, foreseeing that these same people would soon turn against Him and yell, “Crucify Him!”

Jesus, who had received the welcoming of the people as he approached Jerusalem, saw the city and wept (Luke 19:41-44). Here, “wept” in Greek is klaio, meaning “severe anguish, grief, loud wailing.” In other words, Jesus wailed and was so severely anguished that people would consider it strange, since he had entered receiving such an enthusiastic welcome.

Jesus wailed because He foresaw the massacre of 1.1 million Jews when Roman general Titus attacks Jerusalem on the 10th day, 8th month in 70 AD. Jerusalem was nicknamed the “golden star” because of how the sun’s golden rays would reflect on the white stones the city was built upon. Therefore at the time Jerusalem came to ruin, the rumor that “Jerusalem was built by putting gold in between the stones” spread amongst the Roman soldiers. Just like Jesus’ words, “Not one stone will be left upon another...” the walls and temple were destroyed. After Jesus was arrested, the Jews told Pilate to crucify Him and cried, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt 27:25). This was fulfilled at the time of Jerusalem’s downfall, when countless Jews were massacred. Also long after, having been scattered throughout the world, they incurred contempt and rejection for a long period of time.

Upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus first went to the temple and looked around before heading to Bethany to stay the night as evening approached (Mark 11:11).

Monday: Day of Authority (Matt 21:12-22; Mark 11:29-19; Luke 19:45-48; Book of John relays no story from that Monday)

On the Monday of Passion Week, the day after Palm Sunday, Jesus manifested His authority by cursing the barren fig tree and cleansing the temple. On this day He returned to Jerusalem, heading toward the temple. Leaving Bethany and going toward Jerusalem with His beloved disciples, Jesus felt hungry while passing Bethphage, meaning “house of figs.” He discovered a leafy fig tree, but cursed it upon seeing that it bore no fruit.

In the Palestine region, fig trees sprout green but inedible fruit around March and April. Around June, the figs ripen to a yellow color and can be eaten. Thus, it was not the season for figs (Mark 11:13).  Although the tree leaves were lush, no fruit could be seen. The earliest-formed green fruit symbolizes the firstborn Israel, who were the first covenanted people. Just like the lush leaves of the fig tree, Israel was ripe with prescriptive religious observances, but because it was not able to bear actual spiritual fruit, Jesus cursed it. He cursed the fig tree as a rebuke toward the Israelites who were not awakened and bore no fruit, and a request in faith toward the unbelieving disciples.

Afterwards, Jesus entered and cleansed the temple. This incident of purifying the temple purification is the second such occurrence, following the time Jesus first began His public ministry (John 2:13-22). The Greek currency (i.e. “lepton” and “drachma”) and Roman currency (i.e. “denarion”) were used in the Jewish society at this time. The temple was packed with “money changers,” who at every festival would change over to the Jewish currency of the shekel in order for others to pay the tribute money of the half-shekel temple tax (equivalent to 2-days’ wages). The money changers would take about 12.5% commission as they exchanged currency, and the priests, in collusion with the  merchants, sent away the offerings the people had brought by finding fault with them ? inducing them instead to buy the offerings of the merchants who unduly profited.

As a result, God’s house of prayer ended up becoming a place of business and a den of robbers. Outraged, Jesus called the buyers and sellers in the temple robbers and He drove them out. The news of Jesus calling the religious leaders? the most well-treated of Jewish people? robbers and then driving them out instantly spread throughout all of Jerusalem.

Tuesday: Day of Defense (Matt 21:23-26, Mark 11:20-14:11, Luke 20:1-22:6, John 12:20-50)

On this Tuesday of Passion Week, His final day of public evangelism, Jesus spent the entire day debating with religious leaders and suffered from their pestering. On Tuesday morning, Jesus and His disciples saw that the fig tree?which he had cursed after having left Bethany and passing by Bethphage? was withered from the roots up (Mark 11:20-21; Matthew emphasizes in Matthew 21:19-20 that this event took place immediately). Being withered from the roots up shows the fig tree had been deprived of its right to life. This teaches us that the time we receive exhortation through the Word is the time we must bear fruit.

Since the people had enthusiastically received Jesus on Palm Sunday, it was then that the religious leaders reached their peak of jealousy and envy. They prepared arguments and questions to disgrace Jesus in public by any means. Though they questioned Jesus about His authority by flaunting their positions as religious leaders, they instead faced humiliation when they could not answer His counter question about John’s baptism (Matt 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8). Jesus also rebuked the religious leaders through three parables (Parable of the Two Sons: Matt 21:28-32; Parable of the Wicked Farmer: Mark 12:1-12; Parable of the Wedding Banquet: Matt 22:1-14, Luke 14:15-24). They clearly knew that Jesus’ parables were used to rebuke them, yet instead of repenting, they sought to seize Jesus and re-establish their authority before the people (Matt 21:45-46).

Around Jesus’ time, Judaism was spiraling into a religion of theory which only discussed the compliance of extrinsic (outward) laws. It was full of empty formalities and vanity, like how and for how many minutes one’s hands must be washed to be considered clean before eating. Accordingly, the religious leaders tried to attack Jesus through inquiries on complicated matters, such as issues regarding subjection to tax, resurrection, the greatest commandment of all, etc. However, Jesus clearly resolved their queries and proclaimed both His divinity and humanity by asking, “David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” (Matt 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:39-44; Ps 110:1). Besides this, Jesus also spoke of the seven woes to the Pharisees (Matt 23:1-36; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47) and foresaw Jerusalem’s destruction and lamented (Matt 23:37-39).

Of the things Jesus taught, He spoke of the widow who put in two lepta (sing. lepton) or 1 kodrantes into the offering box. One lepton was equivalent to 1/128 of a denarius (1 denarius  was equivalent to a day’s wage; an approximate value of ?100,000). Thus, 2 lepta would be roughly equivalent to ?1,500 today. Jesus praised that “...she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44).

After this, the Greeks found Philip and asked to meet Jesus. Acts 17:21 reveals that they were people who enjoyed “telling or hearing something new,” and as such, they wanted to meet Jesus, who was the central figure of the greatest issue at that time. Jesus heard this news and said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” and spoke of the nearing of the time of crucifixion (John 12:24-26). As Jesus was anguished with His path towards the suffering cross, He heard a voice coming from heaven promising: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again,“ (John 12:27-33). Jesus again taught the bustling crowd about being “lifted up,” and that through being lifted up He would “draw all men” to Himself (John 12:32-33). He then went away and hid Himself from the unbelieving crowd (John 12:36-50).

As Jesus was coming out of the temple, He taught the disciples of Jerusalem’s destruction and the end of the ages (Matt 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 17, 21). He prophesied that the Jerusalem temple would be completely demolished in the near future (Matt 24:1-2) and taught of the signs of the end times, to prepare for that time by being awake and praying. He also taught about the importance of having a faith that is awake and prepared in the end through the parables of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13), the talents (Matt 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27), and the sheep and goats (Matt 25:31-46).

Jesus spent the whole day not having a proper meal and busily going around debating and teaching. The wicked religious leaders were also busy, gathering at the court of Caiaphas and devising a plan to kill Jesus (Matt 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2). At the end of the meeting, they came to an agreement not to kill Jesus until after the festival, fearing the reaction of the people.   

During Passion Week, Jesus would retire to Bethany from Jerusalem each night, staying at the house of Simon the leper. On this day, Mary came with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume and poured it on Jesus’ head, preparing for His funeral (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:3-8). This perfume was worth 300 denarii, which is equivalent to tens of millions of Won (?) today. The disciples did not realize that Mary’s act was done in preparation for Jesus’s burial (Matt 26:12) and they reproached her at Judas Iscariot’s instigation. (John 12:4-5). However, Judas Iscariot’s rebuke was not for the sake of doing good work but because he wanted to steal Mary’s offering (John 12:6). Jesus, who could see right through one’s heart, publicly pointed out Judas Iscariot as a thief and praised Mary to be remembered (Matt 26:10-13; Mark 14:6-9).

Wednesday: Day of Silence, Day of Prayer (Matt 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-6)

Jesus’ acts on Wednesday cannot be found in any record of the four Gospels. Theologians express this day as the “day of retirement,” explaining that because there were so many acts that Jesus performed on Tuesday, He must have used this day to rest comfortably at home.

However, Jesus would not have been able relax, for He knew that the work of bearing all of mankind’s sin and hanging on the cross drew nearer with each passing minute. On this day, Jesus kept silent and prayerfully went over all the acts which took place in His three years of public ministry. He also thought about the religious leaders who planned to kill Lazarus and notified him to flee (John 12:9-11).

Disgraced at Simon the leper’s house, Judas Iscariot left there in the middle of the night. Furthermore, while Jesus was praying at Bethany, Judas went to find the high priests and promised to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matt 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11). Originally, the religious leaders had planned to kill Jesus after the festival, but because of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, they changed their plan to do it before.  

“Iscariot,” as in Judas Iscariot, can be presumed to mean “zealous Judaizer,” or “a man of Kerioth.”  If Judas was actually from Kerioth, this means that only he, of the 12 disciples, was from a well-off region of southern Judah while the rest were from the humble northern Galilee. He may have felt reverse discrimination, and it is unknown whether normally there was a tendency of the Judeans to inwardly look down on the Galileans. Judas had the important responsibility of taking care of the treasury, and he incited the disciples with his ambition. He was initially used for good, but in the end, he was used to fulfill God’s providence as an evildoer (Prov 16:3).

Thursday: Day of Agony, Day of Sorrow (Matt 26:17-35; Mark 14:12-31; Luke 22:7-38; John 13:1-17:26).

Thursday is the day of agony, the day before Jesus Christ was to hang on the cross to save mankind. On this day, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and after finishing the last supper, He prepared for the cross at Mt. Gethsemane where he prayed until His sweat turned to blood.

The Bible expresses this night as “the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed” (Matt 26:17; Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7). Originally, the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the day after Passover and is observed for seven days. However, here it includes the Passover as part of the “first day of Unleavened Bread,” expressing this day as the first day of the full Feast of Unleavened Bread period.

However, the “first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed” of 29 AD had to be a day earlier because Passover of 29 AD was on a “high day” (John 19:31). The “high day” (μεγ?λη??μ?ρα ?κε?νουτο? σαββ?το) was a day when the Sabbath overlapped with Passover. In other words, as Passover, the 14th day of the 1st month, fell on a Saturday, that day was observed as the “high day of Sabbath,” while the Feast of Passover was observed a day earlier, on Friday the 13th. Accordingly, leaven from the house was removed in order to prepare for the Feast of Unleavened Bread on Thursday the 12th; it was a day in which unleavened bread and a young lamb were prepared for the Passover supper.

Jesus earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with His disciples (Luke 22:14-15). However, when looking at Matthew 26:26 and Luke 22:19, the disciples did not prepare unleavened bread (Greek: ?ζυμο?/azymos) at all and instead, Jesus had to eat leavened bread (Greek: ?ρτο?/artos) for His Passover meal.

During the Passover meal, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples (John 13:1-11). Also, Jesus once again taught His disciples that there would be suffering on the cross and urged them to serve another (John 13:12-20). After Jesus spoke these things, He became troubled in spirit and testified “...one of you will betray me” (John 13:21) and said that the person for whom He shall dip the morsel and give to would be the one. This was the last opportunity given to Judas Iscariot to repent. The other disciples were ignorant and did not realize that Jesus was speaking about Judas Iscariot, but Judas understood the meaning of that bread. If Judas had not received that bread and instead repented tearfully, then perhaps he could have broken free from selling Jesus. However, Satan entered Judas at that moment (John 13:27) and Judas just took the bread and went to sell Jesus. After this, Jesus carried out the last supper by taking the bread, blessing it and giving it to the other disciples; He also took the cup, gave thanks and gave that to them as well (Matt 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-23; John 13:21-30).

After finishing the Last Supper, Jesus at the very end gave His farewell sermon (John 13:31 - 16:33). He gave His disciples a new command to love one another and said that when He goes to the Father, He would ask for “another Helper” to give to them so that He would be with them forever. He promised them that the Helper would bring to their remembrance all the things He had taught them. Of the 12 disciples, only Judas did not hear this sermon.

After finishing the meal and giving a farewell sermon, Jesus sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives to pray. On their way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus prophesied how Peter would deny him (Matt 26:31-35; Mark 14:27-31; Luke 22-31-34). Jesus prayed for His disciples’ faith to not fail, as Satan demanded permission to sift them like wheat (Luke 22:31-32). His intercessory prayer was the reason why the disciples could repent and come back after they had all run away at Jesus’ arrest and before the cross.

Jesus arrived at Mount Gethsemane around 11 pm. His usual place of prayer was Mount Gethsemane, halfway up the Mount of Olives. Jesus told eight of His disciples to sit at the base of the mountain and took Peter, James and John with Him up the mountain. After arriving at the mountain, He told the three disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me,” and began to pray just a stone’s throw away. “Gethsemane” means “an oil press” [meaning “machine that presses oil” derived from the Aramaic Ga?-?m?n? (???? ????????)]. Just like the meaning of its name, Jesus’ flesh and mind, body and spirit were pressed like oil as He was squeezed on behalf of mankind’s sins, praying by going a little beyond and clinging closely to God (Mark 14:32-44; Luke 22:44). Luke 22:44 emphasized how Jesus prayed in four ways ? “by exerting,” “with pain,” “more and more,” and “fervently” ? with the result that Jesus’ sweat became like drops of blood.  Jesus prayed so earnestly that He rubbed His face to the ground to the point that the flesh of his forehead peeled off, becoming bloody (Matt 26:39). During that tearful prayer, the three disciples who were to erect a wall of prayer with the Lord were sleeping.

After praying the same message for the third time (“yet not as I will, but as You will”) Jesus finished His prayer around midnight. He then came to the disciples and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” After having said this, He was captured.

Friday: Day of Passion (suffering) (Matt 26:36-27:61; Mark 14:32-15:47; Luke 22:39-23:56; John 18:1-40)

On the Friday of Passion Week, the Lord of glory ? our eternal Savior and Creator ? was afflicted from ostracism, desertion and suffering, not only from His disciples but from all mankind.

At 1 a.m., Jesus was bound and dragged to the house of Annas. Annas originally held the high priest position from 6-9 AD and ended his term in 15 AD (the 59th high priest), but he was still referred to as the high priest and held influence even during the tenure of Joseph Caiaphas (the 63rd high priest), his son-in-law. At the scene of Jesus’ arrest was Peter, after having run away, and he denied being Jesus’ disciple for the first time (John 18:15-18).

At around 2 a.m., Jesus was dragged to the house of Caiaphas the high priest. Peter, who was following Jesus from a distance, cursed and denied Jesus for the second time (Luke 22:58; John 18:25). Roughly another hour had passed when Peter cursed and swore again, denying Jesus for the third time. Immediately, the rooster crowed for the second time and Jesus turned and looked at Peter (Luke 22:59-62; John 18:26-27). Peter wept bitterly, realizing that he did not pray over Jesus’ warning and instead denied Him (Mark 14:72; Luke 22:61). Satan demanded Peter's denial (cf Job 1:9-12), but Jesus' intercessory prayer enabled Peter to repent for his old days and return to the Lord. (Luke 22:31-32).

At 3 a.m., the Sanhedrin Council convened and the council of elders assembled. “When it was day” in Luke 22:66 refers to the time the Sanhedrin Council met, which equates to dawn, 3 a.m. At the time, Judea was a province of Rome. Therefore, the Sanhedrin Council had discretion in all religious disputes that were even irrelevant to Rome. After Jesus answered, “Yes, I am,” when He was asked, “Are you the Son of God?” (Luke 22:66-71), at 4.40 p.m., the Sanhedrin Council sentenced him with the death penalty at 4:40 p.m. (Matt 27:1, Mark 15:1, Luke 22:66, 71).

At approximately 5 a.m., Jesus was led away to Pilate and questioned for the first time (Matt 27:11-14; Mark 15:1-5; Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-38). About 30 minutes later, after finding no guilt in Jesus and not wanting to be involved in religious matters, Pilate sent Jesus to King Herod, who had jurisdiction over Galilee. King Herod viewed the miracles of Jesus as magic and wished to witness it, but Jesus rejected this. At approximately 6 a.m., Herod along with his soldiers mocked Jesus and dressed Him in a gorgeous robe, sending Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:8-11). At this time, the  Roman soldiers blindfolded Jesus’ face with a towel and hit and mocked Him, also grabbing Him by the beard (Isa 50:6-9), telling Him to identify which of them attacked Him (Luke 22:64).

At approximately 6:30 a.m., Pilate was startled by the multitude who accused him of being no friend of Caesar if he did not crucify Jesus. He then sent Jesus to be crucified to satisfy the Jews (Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24-25; John 19:12-16). The Roman soldiers hit the Jesus’ entire body with whips of articles of iron before they crucified Him (Matt 27:26). Jesus’ back was deeply furrowed (Psalm 129:3) and He was at the point of death.

The distance from where He received His trial from Pontius Pilate to where Golgotha hill is located is approximately 800m. On His way up to Golgotha to complete His victory, He fell around 14 times. Today, this route is called Via Dolorosa.

At 9 a.m., Jesus was hung on the cross at Calvary to forgive the sins of mankind (Matt 27:33-38; Mark 15:20-27, Luke 23:33, John 19:17-29). The blood that covered the wooden cross covered the hill of Golgotha, the center of the earth. At that moment, the true life inside His blood conquered the power of death; He defeated death by His death and became victorious. Jesus spoke three times on the cross from 9 a.m. to noon (Luke 23:34, 43, 26-27), and then when the sunlight started to dim after midday, He spoke an additional four times just before 3 p.m. (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34, John 19:28, 30; Luke 23:46). These seven sayings of the cross were truly a compression of Jesus' entire life, the Word that completed the redemption of humanity.

Jesus died on the cross “between the two evenings” (Exod 12:6 - 'twilight': Ben Ha-arbaim) when the Passover lamb was killed, just as it was prophesied in the Old Testament, and He was laid in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (Matt 27:57-61, Mark 15:42-43; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:38). Death, however, was not able to contain Him. Three days later on Sunday, The Lord resurrected at the glorious break of dawn.

*Jesus’ story after His resurrection will be included in the next edition of True Peace