Our tendency to want to read the four gospels as having been written by our standards of biography can create all sorts of issues that have the potential of causing us to miss the real point. Certainly one of those areas where that is true is the chronology of holy week. All four gospel writers give a substantial portion of their gospel narratives to this one week of Jesus’ life. For Matthew, the triumphal entry is in chapter 21; for Mark, chapter 11; for Luke, chapter 19; and for John, chapter 12. Just this past Sunday, the church acknowledged His entry into Jerusalem with Palm Sunday. Next Sunday, of course, we will acknowledge His resurrection on “the first day of the week” by celebrating Easter.
But in the rhythm of the Christian calendar, we are in the midst of “holy week.” This devotional is being sent out on Wednesday of holy week. Already by Wednesday, Jesus has entered Jerusalem on a donkey – an incredible message in itself. He has cleansed the money changers from the Temple – another rather incredible message. It seems that He spends Tuesday teaching in the temple area – and reading Mark 11:20 – 13:37 and its parallel texts can give you a taste of how that went!
Tomorrow, if you’re reading this on Wednesday, Jesus will meet with His disciples in the upper room for Passover (interesting that this is the “eve of Passover”), washing their feet, talking about love, and instituting the Lord’s Supper. Later that evening He will be betrayed by one of His own, arrested, passed back and forth between Jewish and Roman officials, and by Friday morning, He will be hanging on a cross, an event He will describe with the phrase, “it is finished.” (John 19:30)
But what happened on Wednesday? Robert Stein, in his book, Jesus the Messiah, suggests that on Wednesday Jesus spent the day resting. (page 197) Stein notes how difficult it is to be very specific about dates and times. But, it does seem at least very likely that on Wednesday of holy week, Jesus withdraws from the hustle of life in Jerusalem the week of Passover and rests.
John reminds us, as he begins to tell the story of Thursday night in Jesus’ life, that “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God . . .” (13:3) It makes me wonder if perhaps on Wednesday, Jesus didn’t spend some time thinking about who He was – the one into whose hands the Father had placed all things; where He came from – His mission was from God; and where He was going – back to the Father who had sent Him in the first place.
Who we are, where we come from, and where we are headed are crucial questions to ask and to answer. For me, that means I will spend some time on Wednesday of holy week thinking about those questions. Understanding that I am a child of God, I am on a mission God has given to His children, and that the ultimate destination is eternity with God can serve to motivate me to do whatever it is God has called me to do at the moment.
If such “rest” was as He face the monumental burden of what was before Him, I fairly confident it might be helpful to me. I suspect the same could be true for you as well.
Find some “rest” on Wednesday – a big week is ahead for us all!
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