Passion Week Begins!

Mark 11:1-11, Passion Week Begins!

Today we begin what is called Passion Week or Holy Week, it is set off by our Lord entering Jerusalem on a Sunday, while the people praise Him; but five days later, on Friday, the people will cry out for His death, after which, He will be crucified and laid in a tomb, but on Sunday morning, one week from when He entered Jerusalem, He will rise from the dead, just like He said He would!

There is much written in Scripture about Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem (Matthew 21-28, Mark 11-18, Luke 19-24, John 12-20). Out of a total of 89 chapters that comprise all four Gospels, about 1/3 of them are devoted to this one week period of Jesus’ life!

In 2007-08, teaching through Mark’s Gospel, I prepared 20 sermons on this one-week period of Jesus’ life; and in 2012-13, teaching through Matthew’s Gospel, I prepared 22 sermons on this same one-week period.

Passion Week is highly charged and extremely important, because it contains Christ’s sacrificial death (payment for all our sins) and His sovereign resurrection (demonstration of eternal life).

Apart from Creation Week, when everything was made that has been made, the crucifixion and resurrection of God’s One and Only Son, are by far the most marvelous, majestic, and miraculous events to ever occur.

The OT gives many prophecies that are fulfilled during Passion Week, concerning the suffering and death of God's Son, through which the God's sovereign plan to pay for sin and provide salvation was fulfilled.
Exodus 12:46... None of His bones broken (Passover lamb). (1400 B.C.)

Psalm 16:8-11... He will rise from the dead. (1000 BC)
Psalm 22:16... His hands and feet will be pierced.
18... Lots will be cast for His garments.
Psalm 69:21... He will be given vinegar to drink.
Psalm 110:1... He will ascend back into heaven.
Isaiah 53:1-12... He will be despised, forsaken, led like a lamb to slaughter, pierced and put to death for our sins. (700 BC)

Zechariah 9:9... He enters Jerusalem on a colt. (500 BC)
Zechariah 11:12... He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver [Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave].
Zechariah 13:7... His friends will desert Him.

Next Friday at 3 pm, we’ll study the events of the day of Christ’s crucifixion; and next Sunday, we’ll study what the Bible says about His resurrection from the grave. Mark 11:1-3... Jesus and the 12 approached Jerusalem, coming near Bethphage ["house of unripe figs"], a small town near Bethany, on the SE side of the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem. Bethany was home for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1).

The Mount of Olives is just across from the Temple Mount; the Garden of Gethsemane is at its base. Jesus often met here with His disciples. It was Jesus' familiar use of the garden that allowed Judas to betray Him here (Matthew 26:36, 45-50).

The Mount of Olives was where Jesus taught about the End Times Events (Matthew 24). It was from here that Jesus ascended back into heaven (Acts 1:9-12), and it is here that He will return (Zechariah 14:3-5).

Jesus sends two of His disciples into Bethphage to acquire a young donkey; Matthew 21:2 records that there was a mare with a colt.
vv. 4-7... The disciples find the donkey, untie it and bring it to Jesus, when asked why they were untying the colt, they said, Jesus told them to, and (v. 6) the owner of the donkey told them to go ahead and take it. The people in that area knew Jesus' and His disciples, also that He was referred to as “The Lord.”

Matthew 21 speaks of a donkey, her colt (v. 2) and the fulfillment of a messianic prophecy (Zechariah 9:9).
Matthew 21:5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’"

vv. 8-10... This display on the part of the people was based on an ancient practice (2Kings 9:12-13) of showing homage to a new king; the people seemed to express acceptance of Christ's claim as King of the Jews.

The people were excited, throwing down their outer garments and palm branches (cf. John 12:13), symbolic of their hope and desire for the messiah-king to come and free them from Roman oppression.
Matthew 1:1, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Matthew 2:1-2, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea (Micah 5:2), during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship him.’”

Matthew 27:11 “Jesus stood before the governor [Pilot] and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Yes, it is as you say.’”

The people shouted (v. 9) "Hosanna!" A Hebrew expression meaning “Save!” The actual Hebrew word is Hoshana, a contraction of the words "save" and "please," and this is a prayerful entreaty with expectation, through which one gives adoration, praise, and joy.

Hosanna is a transliteration from Psalm 118:25-26, "O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD, from the house of the LORD, we praise you."

Jesus' name means "God saves," or "God's Salvation" and in verse 10 they praise the coming Davidic Kingdom when the Messiah-King will rule on earth for 1000 years.

The Jews were waiting for the Messiah to come and liberate them from Gentile oppression [Rome], to prosper them, and to sit on the throne of David; but what they didn’t understand was that He was coming to immediately free them from the penalty of sin, and in the future to sit on the throne of Israel's greatest King, David the Shepherd King (John 10:14, Good Shepherd; 1Peter 5:4, Chief Shepherd).

In Matthew 21:10-11 it says, “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’”
v. 11... Jesus looks around the Temple, the inner and outer courts, nothing was hidden from His eyes; He then returned to Bethany (2 mi.) for the night, as it had been a very long day, during which Jesus had given the disciples a preview of what is going to happen in Jerusalem (see Mark 10:32-34).

The first day of Passion Week comes to a close...

But there is so much more to take place over the next five days, as Jesus pours out His love for the people around Jerusalem, teaching them (mostly on Monday and Tuesday) what the Father had given Him to teach them, and then on Thursday He changes the Passover Meal to the Lord’s Supper, making it clear that He will be the sacrificial lamb, and it will be His blood that will be shed for the sins of the people; and then on Friday, Jesus is arrested, beaten, and crucified, all according to the sovereign plan and purpose of God; so that you and I might be made acceptable to a Holy and Righteous God.

Read through Acts 2:23-24; Romans 3:23-24; 6:23; 5:8; 8:1; 10:9-10, 13). - Pastor Mike