Unsexy Church
Unsexy Church
Season 2 Episode 57: On Holy Week
Death couldn't hold Him. The grave couldn't keep Him. The resurrection of Jesus changed everything.
In this episode, we are joined by Pastor Darren as we walk through the final week of Jesus's earthly ministry—from His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to His glorious resurrection. Together, we unpack the profound significance behind each day's events and how they perfectly fulfilled God's redemptive plan.
Through our conversation, we explore the contradictions and tensions that filled that momentous week: crowds who shouted "Hosanna" on Sunday but "Crucify Him" by Friday; religious leaders who claimed to know Scripture yet rejected their Messiah; and disciples who pledged loyalty yet scattered in fear. These human responses mirror our own struggles to fully embrace Christ's mission. Tune in to Unsexy Church for a sneak peek on what is to come this Resurrection Sunday!
Hello everyone, Welcome back to the Unsexy Church podcast. It is good to be back with you.
Speaker 2:What's up?
Speaker 1:Hello Kara, how are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing very well. How are you?
Speaker 1:Yes, good, good, it's good to have you once again in the studio with us. Yes, we are joined by our distinguished colleague.
Speaker 3:Darren.
Speaker 1:Selvidge.
Speaker 2:Who is this?
Speaker 1:Distinguished.
Speaker 3:D-Dog is with us today Also known as Mr Pastor Darren.
Speaker 2:Sir, yes, by many.
Speaker 1:So our podcast has gotten older today, so the two elder members of the staff are here together.
Speaker 2:Elder- members of the staff are here together. Elder members yes.
Speaker 1:The elder members, the wise ones the wise ones, the ones with the most gray hair. There you go, we just thought we'd get that out of the way, out of the front, before someone comments about old guys on podcast.
Speaker 2:Would I have done that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to be like you remember the Muppet show, the two? You remember the Muppet Show, the two guys up in the balcony, those?
Speaker 3:guys' names Wilford and.
Speaker 1:Waldorf or something. Yeah, we're going to be like those guys today. Perfect, it'll be fun.
Speaker 2:It will be so much fun it will be Trent is not with us today.
Speaker 1:He has just gotten back from a trip to Knoxville where he is purchasing his home, and he's out at the BCM today, and so we're recording this on a Thursday morning, so he's not with us, so it's just the three of us today.
Speaker 2:So exciting.
Speaker 1:It is exciting we can do whatever we want. We've like taken over the podcast.
Speaker 2:We have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2:It's in your clutches, Pastor Rob. What are you going to do with it?
Speaker 1:We can do as much lively banter Old guys banter or as little guys rule. That's right, that's right. So it is the week prior to Easter this week.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:So a lot of preparations going on, anything going on, a worship ministry wise, getting ready for Easter all kinds of stuff going on. I heard you guys rehearsing last night.
Speaker 3:Yep, we are rehearsing uh well, you know, for Sunday morning, for a good Friday uh service at at noon. We've added quite a few instruments to the mix compared to what we would normally have, and so, and a few more songs at what we would normally do on a Sunday, and so, man, we're, we're in the thick of it, we're in the pull your hair out.
Speaker 1:You're not in the weeds, though, right, not in the weeds.
Speaker 3:No we we know where we're going. Okay, all right, just not sure we're going to get there. That's the stage we're in. No, I'm actually. I think I feel a little more prepared than normal. I don't know if it's because Easter is so late.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys always do an amazing job. Yeah, just using your talents and letting God take it for his glory. Got a great team. Got a great team. We are blessed, we are blessed, so we do have a busy schedule next weekend around Resurrection Sunday. So Good Friday. You mentioned our Good Friday service that's become a tradition for us at noon on Good Friday just to pause and have a simple reflective time of looking at the cross and remembering the price that Christ paid for our salvation.
Speaker 3:That's one of my favorite services Just a good time to reflect, good time of worship and a more, you know, just a more serious time. Not that we are not serious all the time.
Speaker 1:Not like our services are frivolous, otherwise Right right Our services are very unsexy, right, that's right. That's right. That's right, but it is. It's just kind of a I don't know a slowed down kind of just vibe to it and just a reflective time and usually about 45 minutes, cause we do it at lunch hour in case somebody can break away from lunch at work and come join us. So that's a good time. Uh, saturday we'll have the preschool egg hunt, which is always exciting to see young families running around with little ones.
Speaker 3:I always see people that I have not met or don't even go to our church.
Speaker 1:It's a good time. It is a good time. It's a good time to meet those families, like you say, and just see the little kids running around. It's an opportunity that Olivia uses to share the gospel even with the little ones. What's Easter really all about? It's not just these eggs. It's about the resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 3:I saw a great meme the other day. I don't know if it was the stone rolled away and it was rolled on top of the Easter egg it smashed him flat.
Speaker 2:It was awesome.
Speaker 3:So I love that. Well, there you go.
Speaker 1:But I may not show that during the Easter. Maybe not. Yeah, that might be traumatic for some. It might be traumatic for some.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, sunday is Resurrection Sunday, where we celebrate the pivotal point in all of human history Christ's resurrection from the dead and how that makes the difference in our lives. It changes everything it does. So I don't debate every year what I'm going to preach on. I don't have to try to be real clever and be new. We're just going to talk about the resurrection and the difference that it makes in the gospel. We're looking forward to all that. Yeah, you guys have done a good job of helping us with our promotion of that with all of our Bob's looking good out there on social media.
Speaker 3:They make me look good man, sounding good man.
Speaker 1:They make me look good. That's hard to do. They need a raise or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2:That's going to be the next televangelist, no.
Speaker 1:I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:You might go viral.
Speaker 3:One of your sermon clips I might get a virus, what that might be, it I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know, so, um, Trent is usually interjecting a fun fact at this point. Fun fact, but he's not here.
Speaker 2:He's not here, so what are we going to do? What?
Speaker 1:are we going to do? We got to come up with a fun fact Easter related. Fun fact Easter related.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you both have a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 1:Of Easter related. Wow, we should write back to that. How wise we are, trent's gone.
Speaker 2:I have to play the part. Yeah, you have to fill that void, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:So I did see a fact the other day Speaking of Easter bunnies, chocolate Easter bunnies are very popular at Easter time. You get the big bunny with the hollow bunny and, however big you get, and 78% of people what part of the bunny do they eat first?
Speaker 3:The head. I think it's gotta be the ears. The ears Start with the ears Yep 78%.
Speaker 1:eat the ears first man. I like those.
Speaker 3:I don't want a hollow Easter bunny. That's so irritating, yeah, I want one of those Reese's Easter bunnies and really yes, that's good. It's a little flatter, but man, it's full of good peanut butter.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, Are you a Cadbury egg guy?
Speaker 3:No and no peeps. Those are gross. I'm going to line your desk with peeps.
Speaker 2:You're going to come back and be like those are nasty, those are gross. I'm going to line your desk with you. Know you're going to come back, it's just going to be like those are nasty.
Speaker 3:Those are bad. Peeps are bad. Yeah, you know it's weird. Okay, this is weird to me. I think Easter is the best holiday in the world. Okay, I think it's tops Right, but okay, now don't at me anybody. But Christmas has the better food and the better songs.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but Easter is better. We need to change that up, I think we raided holidays not very long ago here with Trent.
Speaker 1:We did.
Speaker 2:And Mr Pastor Darren, I have to tell you, I have to expose our pastors. They both raided. Halloween was in their top two. Can you believe?
Speaker 3:that I am anti-Halloween. Well, I'll put it on the record. We need some context with that statement.
Speaker 2:I think it was holidays that they had enjoyed as a child.
Speaker 3:As a child. Oh, I got you as a child. So there's that.
Speaker 1:But I had to expose them because I know how strongly you feel. I don't believe Easter was at the top of either of our lists, to be honest.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure it was. I think it was number one for Trent, I think. No, no, no, oh, no, no, not Easter, sorry.
Speaker 1:Halloween. Halloween, yes, yes, easter was not at the top for them.
Speaker 3:Can you believe it? Pastors at our church you got some work to do here, don't we?
Speaker 2:I've been saved by grace mr pastor, darren, easter was the number one holiday that he enjoyed as a child. He loved dressing up me I don't know, I'm just making this up.
Speaker 1:Did you guys celebrate easter like big family celebrations? We?
Speaker 3:didn't do big family celebrations, so it was uh, um, okay, full disclosure. A child, I don't like getting up early and we always went to Easter sunrise service and praise God, we don't do Easter sunrise service here.
Speaker 1:I've noted that you've never asked us to do one of those in your time here.
Speaker 3:So I did not enjoy that as a child. And then a lot of times like, like my birthday would fall around Easter or even sometimes on Easter, and that was just.
Speaker 1:I didn't like personally you don't want to share your birthday with Jesus.
Speaker 3:That's how selfish I was as a child.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I guess you have to join the. I didn't enjoy Easter. Yeah, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 3:But man, I think, like Thanksgiving was probably one of my favorite for Christmas. It was just because those were more a lot of big family celebrations around those two. We would go to Easter, we'd go to Sunrise Service, sometimes go to McDonald's get breakfast, go to McDonald's get breakfast, come back and then go to normal Easter Sunday church and I can't remember if we went out to eat or just went home. I think probably a mixture of both.
Speaker 1:Did mom put?
Speaker 2:you in the light colors and dress you up on.
Speaker 3:Easter. Sunday, so as a younger child, my brother and I would sometimes have matching outfits, not seersucker, but sometimes it was stuff like shirts that my grandmother made and stuff like that. But, definitely were outfits picked out by my mother and not allowed to pick out my own.
Speaker 1:I don't remember that as a kid we didn't have a lot of cash when a lot of money when we. So I don't remember us getting special outfits. I remember us wearing whatever the best thing. We had to go to Easter that Sunday.
Speaker 3:I think you know again, you know they just it was a lot of times it was like things that my grandmother made for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, made it special for you. Cool yeah, nice.
Speaker 3:I don't think there are any pictures.
Speaker 2:I would pay $20 to see a picture 20 bucks. I don't have very many dollars, so I would pay $20.
Speaker 1:So when did the when?
Speaker 3:did the family photo at Easter become a thing? I almost feel like that's super recent. Yeah, and for me anyway, like in the last four years, maybe three years even social media driven, selfie kind of thing driven.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't remember it as a child.
Speaker 3:We always took like christmas photos, but easter, yeah, I think that's a recent thing I think it's just a component of.
Speaker 2:It's one of the times you have your entire family together. It's one of the times that many Americans actually decide to go to church in the morning and see their families. So I think that's one of the reasons why we have that little Easter wall so people can take pictures and they're Sunday, best in their fancy little. And that's great.
Speaker 3:That was cool. It's fun to see all the families gather there. Try to get lined up and get their pictures made. It's fun to see all the families gather there. How to get lined up and get their pictures made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's always a line of folks waiting patiently in the sun to get that picture.
Speaker 2:We're speaking a little bit about Easter this morning. I would like to know the topic. What are we talking about?
Speaker 1:Look, at Kara, redirecting us towards the topic. I like that. We decided that it would be appropriate to talk about Easter week or Passion week or Holy week, so what actually took place from the time Jesus came into Jerusalem for that last time until crucifixion, resurrection. So there's discussion, as you compare the gospels together, the synoptics and John, and looking at the timeline, and so we thought we'd just kind of walk through the week and just discuss some of it and maybe whatever strikes our fancy as we're walking through it or whatever the Holy spirit leads us to, we'll, we'll, we'll kind of focus on, but just kind of walking through the events of Holy week.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, Nice. I'm sorry, no you actually startled me a little bit. I just got my wings physically jump.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I wasn't expecting it to be that loud.
Speaker 1:I'm still learning how to.
Speaker 2:Okay, so wow, what a great job.
Speaker 1:I have noted, so I have not been on the last several podcasts. Right, I've been traveling and I haven't been around. And Trent's gotten button, happy he is pressing lots of buttons, he's really lots of buttons.
Speaker 2:He really has. He's really enjoyed those buttons. They're fun.
Speaker 1:So less, is more. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I was looking through, I was like what would be really good? I like the charms, so that's what we got.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So typically Holy Week starts with the Sunday prior to the crucifixion, right? So, darren, what big event happens the Sunday prior to crucifixion, this Sunday, and we call that Palm Sunday.
Speaker 3:That's the Sunday that Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey. People were waving palm branches throwing down their cloaks as he was coming in and specifically even saying things like Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Those are phrases that are super familiar.
Speaker 1:This was a huge procession. I mean, these were people that had followed Jesus towards Jerusalem and those that heard he was coming, kind of coming out to meet him and converging in this big parade. And they're, they're. They're waving these palm branches, which was a sign of respect. They're they're throwing the robes down, which they would do as a King came in and comes through Right Cause exactly. They couldn't throw themselves on the ground, so they would throw their robes on the ground.
Speaker 3:So this is an acknowledgement that they're, they are recognizing jesus.
Speaker 1:Hosanna, save us right, god, save us. God, save us right. Exactly so this is a time, one of the few times, when jesus allows this type of worship to takes place right. So it's a, it's a time of declaration he's come to be the messiah right, right.
Speaker 3:It's interesting. What, what do you think was going through the people's minds when they were saying Hosanna, god, save us. What were they asking to?
Speaker 1:be saved from Sure Rome. Probably, specifically, they're looking for this earthly Messiah to come and reestablish a kingdom, to be much like Moses had been and deliver them from the bondage that they had been in. And so we see that turn. By the end of the week, when that's not the Messiah that Jesus came to be, they turn against him. And by the end of the week, when that's not the Messiah that Jesus came to be, they turn against him. And by the end of the week, some of the same crowd is. Who had been shouting Hosanna is now shouting crucify him. You're not the Messiah we want.
Speaker 3:And they were looking for a savior from Rome, but what they really needed was a savior from sin, and they weren't looking for that at that point.
Speaker 1:And even how Jesus comes in. While he's accepting worship, while he is acknowledging I am the Messiah, he's riding in on the foal of a donkey Right. This had to be a ridiculous picture. Yeah, this tiny little animal with a grown man sitting on the back of it.
Speaker 3:It's not a warrior's steed.
Speaker 1:It's not a white horse, it's not a Roman emperor coming in on a parade. He's riding the smallest little thing, unbroken by the way. He just jumps on it and starts going. But it's a statement. It's a fulfillment of prophecy and it is a statement of what type of Messiah he is to be. So we're getting a weird cut in and out when we're talking.
Speaker 2:I think we just have to lean in a little bit closer.
Speaker 1:Lean in closer.
Speaker 3:Oh, there it is Okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So that was Sunday and the religious leaders weren't real thrilled about this.
Speaker 3:No, not excited at all.
Speaker 1:No, they had been trying to push Jesus aside for a long time. Then they tried to quiet him and now they've determined they need to kill him. They want to kill him Right. And he's coming in and receiving this praise and they come out to him and say do you not? Hear what they're saying. Right, they're crying out that you are the messiah. Yeah, aren't you going to tell them to stop? Exactly and he says, no, have you not read? You know this is who I am. Let the children cry out.
Speaker 1:So, it's one of the few times when he accepts this worship and then he confronts them and says this is this is what it is.
Speaker 1:This is reality, deal with it. Yeah, all right, so that's that's kind of Sunday, yep, and that's a big celebration. Then we get to Monday, right, so the the the a Monday, right, so the second day of the week, and he goes towards Jerusalem, right, he probably stays out in Bethany overnight, which is about two miles south of Jerusalem, and he's probably staying there for a few days around the Passover meal and all that, and as he goes into Jerusalem he heads towards the temple, and so on Monday he spends most of his time there. And when he gets there, what does he find?
Speaker 3:Yeah, not what he wants.
Speaker 1:He finds what he's expecting, but he's not finding what he's wanting Right, and so he goes to the temple and instead of people worshiping and praying as they should, instead of the nations being welcomed in, he sees money changers Right. He sees people taking advantage of others. He sees people making it harder for people to come to God, not easier for them to come to God, people throwing up obstacles.
Speaker 3:So this is always an interesting topic. Just maybe a little side note. But so should we not be selling things in church?
Speaker 1:I don't think that's the point, but I think we have to be careful, but I don't think that's the primary point.
Speaker 3:Right, right, yeah. What were the money changers doing? Right?
Speaker 1:They were forcing people to exchange their coinage for the temple coinage making money off of that process taking advantage of people who are coming to genuinely offer sacrifices and taking advantage of that, thus making it much more difficult for people to come to God. So Jesus does not find this acceptable. So he, in a display of righteous anger, he overturns those tables and says you know, you've turned what should be a house of prayer into a den of thieves, Right? So, uh, this is twice. He does this twice.
Speaker 2:This is the second time he's done this, Um, the first time.
Speaker 1:He does it at the very beginning of his ministry and we believe he does it here at the at the second time and I think he goes and he does this intentionally. This isn't a random act. I don't think it was a spontaneous act. I think he goes and he does this intentionally. This isn't a random act. I don't think it was a spontaneous act. I think he's doing this intentionally, right.
Speaker 1:I think he knew, like you said, he knew what he would find there and and this is his response to it- Right, he knows where Friday is leading, he knows what's coming up on Friday and he's going to make sure that he gets there, and so I've always interpreted this as him poking the bear. Yeah, exactly, he, he. And he wants to infuriate the religious leaders enough that they have to act in such a fashion that it leads to the cross.
Speaker 3:Right, that's. I think that's really good. I think just a maybe a devotional thought from that I've always had is just, you know, as you go through Holy Week, you think about Palm Sunday and the worship that is due Christ and just falling down at his feet saying God, save us. You're like I can't save myself and then going and seeing him in a sense cleanse the temple again, right, overturning the tables and as believers we're temples of the Holy Spirit. I think it's a good time to think about cleansing our temple right. Cleansing, you know, just spending time in prayer, spending time confessing and just asking God to examine our hearts and maybe even to disrupt our lives a little bit. I mean, he's, he's disrupting the scene there. I mean that that those money changers had gone there, you know, week after week, and have done it. We're continuing to do what they'd always done and Jesus comes in disrupts everything.
Speaker 3:And I think it's a time that we can maybe step back and ask him to disrupt our life a little bit. What am I continuing to do, lord, that's not pleasing to you? How am I hindering other people from coming and seeing who you really are, you know?
Speaker 1:so, thinking about just uh, just like said devotionally a little bit yeah, we always think of jesus as the one who brings peace and calm, and that's true, he does but he also at times needs to shake us up and to get to that peace and calm, we need to.
Speaker 3:We need our tables turned over a little bit.
Speaker 1:We do. Yeah, exactly to get, to get back to what he's called us to be and do I have?
Speaker 3:the turntables have turned.
Speaker 1:He also, as he's going into the temple that day. You may remember there's a fig tree that he goes by and he goes up to get some figs off of it and he finds that it's barren Right and he curses the tree. Yeah, and his disciples are like what was that all about? What's that all about? It's like it's not doing what it's supposed to be doing Exactly, and it is not fulfilling its purpose, right, and so another devotional thought there.
Speaker 3:You have a purpose to fulfill, don't not fulfill your purpose Right and don't do something else. You know again don't be taking advantage of people you know. In this scenario, let's not hinder people from coming to worship. Let's do everything that we can to point people to the Messiah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a worthwhile question for churches to ask themselves Are we making it easier for people to come to Christ or do we put unintentional obstacles sometimes? Sometimes they're intentional, but hopefully they're unintentional. Do we put unintentional obstacles in the way that make it harder for people to see the truth of the gospel? Yeah, yeah, excuse me All right, so we got to keep moving. Carrie, you got to keep us rolling because we'll bog down on every day, if you don't.
Speaker 1:So Tuesday he's already gone. He's poked the bear. On Monday he's overturned the money changers tables and on Tuesday he has a day where he really just kind of dukes it out with the Pharisees. He just goes. It's no hold barred, it's not a how to win friends and influence people, kind of confrontation, it is this is the way it is the words get sharp, the conversation gets tough, yeah.
Speaker 1:This is where he confronts the Pharisees, and he and he says woe unto you, whoa, whoa, whoa, I think seven times. So it's a day of confrontation.
Speaker 3:It probably you know tells them the parable of the tenants during that day you know and and you know where he.
Speaker 3:You know he says a master has a has a vineyard, he leases it out to tenants. He sends servants to go and reap, reap a harvest, and the people that he has leased the vineyard to beat the servants. And eventually he sends his son and they, they kill his son. Right, just so prophetic Right. And they, the Pharisees, perceive that they're talking about that, that Jesus is talking about them and he's, he's telling them what's getting ready to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is?
Speaker 3:happening.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you've. You've stoned the prophets, you've killed my servants, you've persecutedoned the prophets, you've killed my servants, you've persecuted my people and now you're going to crucify me. You are rejecting you who claim to know the scriptures, are rejecting the truth of the scriptures.
Speaker 1:He just spends the day calling out the religious leaders who are supposed to be making it easier.
Speaker 3:They're supposed to be the mediators grabbing people by the hand and bringing them to God, and they are not doing that and they're hindering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're teaching a false gospel.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And so he confronts them. He also spends time in what's known as the Olivet Discourse, where he's just spending some time with his disciples. They come out of the temple and some of his disciples note just the enormity of the buildings and how beautiful they are and how marvelous and how you know, just awe-inspiring they are in their structure. And Jesus says I promise you, there's coming a day when not a stone's going to be left on top of one another here. And they're like when is that going to happen? What could possibly cause that to happen? And he goes into this wonderful discourse about how one day he's going to return and set all things right. He's going to return triumphantly, and so he spends quite a bit of time sharing with them about not what's going to happen that week, but what's going to happen down the line. This week is going to be rough. We're going to the cross, make no mistake about it. But in the future.
Speaker 1:It gives them hope to look forward to what you see here fails in comparison to what's coming in the future.
Speaker 3:These are shadows and we're looking forward to the substance Exactly.
Speaker 1:So any day this week would have been an interesting day to spend with Jesus, but just him confronting and consoling and teaching his disciples and the Pharisees that spending time preparing them, yeah Right, for what's getting ready to happen, cause I still didn't fully.
Speaker 3:I mean, he told them several times over and over but they still don't know. They just can't picture what he's talking about.
Speaker 1:They can't grasp it, they cannot wrap their human minds around. Okay, you're the Messiah, you're the Son of God, you're going to die. They cannot accept it.
Speaker 3:Even though it's foretold in Scripture, and he's told them many times.
Speaker 1:He's told them we're going to Jerusalem and this is what's going to happen, and they still could not wrap their heads around it. Because they didn't want to. Yeah, because they didn't want to.
Speaker 2:All right, so Wednesday let's keep moving unless you had something else on.
Speaker 1:Tuesday. It's good All right, what, what, what about Wednesday? What's what's going on there? Fun fact.
Speaker 3:Maybe what was what has Wednesday been known at? What was it called early in maybe some early church history?
Speaker 2:Oh, I can only think of what it's called. Now I'm dead.
Speaker 3:I don't think they called it that.
Speaker 2:They probably felt that I was like is there a camel in this story?
Speaker 3:It was called Spy Day Spy.
Speaker 1:Wednesday Spy Wednesday. Really, I did not know that.
Speaker 2:What happened on Spy Wednesday. What happened on Spy.
Speaker 1:Wednesday. Well, it was really kind of a down day. It was a day where Jesus probably stayed in Bethany most of the day just kind of relaxing with his disciples. There's a party thrown in his honor at a guy named Simon's house. I'm actually preaching on this text this Sunday, so I'm kind of I know a little bit.
Speaker 1:You know I'm kind of jazzed about this section here, um, but they throw a party for him at Simon's house. Uh, a former leper, um, and you would think you know if, if you're having dinner at a guy who used to be a leper, he's the star of the show, but he's not because sitting at the table is not only this guy that was a leper, but a guy named Lazarus is also there and he's like oh, you had leprosy, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I dead and Jesus raised me back. So these two guys are sitting at this table and they're, they're. They're having a party with Jesus. They're just celebrating Jesus, and there's two sisters there. It's probably their home right? They're? They're probably related to Simon somehow. Um, and we've met these sisters before. Mary and Martha. Yeah, Good friends of Jesus, Lazarus's sisters. Martha is serving the meal. She's busy. She's busy, as she has always been. This is her nature. She serves Jesus by serving Exactly, but Mary is once again.
Speaker 1:We find Mary at his feet you know, and she takes this jar of perfume and breaks it and just pours it over Jesus in this act of extravagant worship. Yes, and his disciples, led by Judas, scorn her and scold her and say that's a year's worth of money that we could have taken and used for something else. And Jesus defends her.
Speaker 3:Right, right, Everywhere this gospel is told. We're going to talk about this.
Speaker 1:Exactly and leave her alone. She's doing what she can and she's doing what's right. You're always going to have the poor with you. Now, he's not saying we shouldn't take care of the poor. He's saying I'm here now and there's a short period of time and she unlike, unlike you people understands what's about to happen. And she's just anointed me for my own burial, and so it's just an incredible act of worship that takes place that day.
Speaker 3:This worship kind of reminds me when, when David was looking for a home for the ark, you know, and and I can't remember the guy's name Gosh, it's slipping open, maybe, yeah, but anyway, he, he, he wants to give David the Austin and give David the threshing floor. And David says I will not worship my God with something that costs me nothing. Exactly Right, and worship is should, should be true. Worship is costly. It costs us something, not just monetarily, but it costs us something spiritually. It costs us our pride, it costs us sometimes our agenda. But yeah, worship should be costly. It's a sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Right, and it shouldn't. When somebody genuinely worships God in an extravagant way, our response should not be the response of the disciples. We look down on them and go something's wrong with you. That's not normal. Well, it should be normal. Extravagant worship should be normal.
Speaker 3:That should be the normal thing right.
Speaker 1:And Mark and John in their gospospels draw a contrast between Mary, who does this extravagant worship and says this is what Jesus is worth to me, and Judas, who is berating her for taking this perfume which could have been sold and he claims it could have been used to give to the poor. But John tells us he really wanted it because he was holding the coffers and he could steal from it. He would help himself. So Mary's looking at Jesus. What can I do for the one who has raised my brother from the dead and saved me? And Judas is looking at Jesus of what can you give to?
Speaker 3:me.
Speaker 1:And what a contrast that is in how to follow Jesus.
Speaker 3:Even more so. What does Judas decide to do Like right? I mean, at that point, satan enters him and he decides to betray Christ. Yep.
Speaker 1:Nobody had to pursue him. He went and found ways to uh to betray his brother, his brother.
Speaker 3:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:So Jesus is then. At that time Judas goes out to accept the bribe, the 30 pieces of silver To arrange for the rest of Christ.
Speaker 3:Just kind of a thought too. Just, man, you can be very close. Judas was with Jesus For three years. Yeah, you can be very close to the things of Christ and not know him. You can be a church member even and not know Christ. It's just a good thought, I think.
Speaker 1:He heard the same teachings, he saw the same miracles. He just closed his heart.
Speaker 3:You can be close to the things of God, but not close to God. Good stuff.
Speaker 2:So was that on Wednesday? That was Wednesday, yep, so look at her redirecting close to God Good stuff. So was that on Wednesday?
Speaker 1:That was Wednesday, yep, so look at her redirecting us once again. Good job Now. Moving on to Thursday.
Speaker 3:Thursday is a extremely busy day right, you guys probably know this one. Another fun fact what's Thursday called Maundy Thursday?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know that. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:That's an old, that's an older phrase.
Speaker 1:It's still around some.
Speaker 2:What's it called one more time Maundy Thursday, so Monday.
Speaker 3:Not Monday, okay.
Speaker 2:M-A-U-N-D-Y. Okay, look it up. Yeah, I will Google it. That's what I've been doing.
Speaker 1:If only there was a way to know what that meant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Only we could find the definition Maundy Thursday. What is Maundy Thursday and what does it mean?
Speaker 3:Tell us.
Speaker 2:Maundy means the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor, especially commemorating Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet on Maundy Thursday. Look at that Maundy, maundy, disciples' feet on Maundy. Thursday. Look at that Maundy, maundy.
Speaker 1:Maundy not.
Speaker 3:Monday Maundy, maundy.
Speaker 2:Maundy, yeah, maundy, thursday Maundy.
Speaker 1:Thursday. So the whole week in Jerusalem is teeming with people because it's Passover week. Yeah, it's the festival where God has commanded the nation of Israel to remember that he has delivered them from slavery in Egypt with a Passover lamb that was sacrificed, and at the end of the week they take lambs, they sacrifice them, they have this big meal together, remembering what God has done for them. So the whole week is pointing towards that time and typically those lambs are sacrificed mid-afternoon on Friday, about three o'clock, and then the family has the meal. Jesus knows he's going to be sacrificed at three o'clock on Friday. He is the lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world.
Speaker 1:He's going to fulfill the Passover. So on Thursday he goes to his disciples and he says I want you to prepare the Passover meal tonight. I want to just have this one last meal with you. So he sends them into the city and he's already made preparations, either in advance or divinely and there's a room set up for him and so that he observes one last Passover meal with his disciples and there he washes their feet, talks about the kind of Messiah he's going to be I've come to be a servant. If you're going to follow me, this is what you need to do as well Takes the elements of the Passover meal and institutes what we now call the Lord's Supper. You know, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you. So he connects the dots for him. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think too, when you think I mean obviously it's an example for you he says I've done, see what I've done. You turn and do this likewise. I've done, you turn and do this likewise, right, and he's telling.
Speaker 3:I mean he's basically, before he does that he's telling them the gospel, you know, and he's like we said, he's fulfilling the Passover and I think when we think of serving others, when we think of serving others, we think about, you know, maybe doing physical things for them, and I think that's a good way to serve people. But Jesus is doing what only the lowest of the servants would do. And Peter says you would wash my feet? No, not a chance. And Jesus' response to Peter is I don't wash you, you have no part of me.
Speaker 1:And so Peter's response back to Christ is then wash everything?
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't wash all of me right, and I think that's what we need to take away from that. The way that we serve people best is by sharing the gospel, so they can be totally cleansed, right? I think the physical things that we do are important, and we should do those things only as a bridge or an avenue to share with them what will give them true life.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's what we're here for. Yeah, that's what we're called to do. That's what.
Speaker 3:Christ is getting ready to do Exactly.
Speaker 1:So they have the Passover meal together. Jesus reveals that one of them is going to betray them. They don't know who it is. They're all questioning it. Could it be me? Could it be me?
Speaker 3:Even.
Speaker 1:Judas says, is it me Exactly? But he leaves and he goes to betray Jesus. He goes to set it up because he knows where Jesus is going next. Jesus has revealed okay, after this we're going to go out to the garden, probably a pattern for him of prayer. And so after the Passover meal, after the institution of the Lord's Supper, they do go out to the garden and Jesus takes the disciples with him. But then he takes some of the disciples further into the garden it's kind of his inner circle and tells them stay here and pray while I go in a little bit further.
Speaker 1:And then he goes in and prays the famous prayer that we're familiar with Father, if there's any way for this cup to pass, nevertheless, not my will, but yours and he earnestly prays. He's feeling the weight of his mission. At that point, I think he always felt the weight of the mission, but now he knows the time has come. Yeah, yeah, it's no longer. My time has not yet come, it's. It's upon him. Right, and I don't think the cup that he's talking about is the pain of the cross. No, I personally think it's the wrath of God.
Speaker 3:The cup that he's going to drink is the wrath of. God.
Speaker 1:And he's going to be separated from his father for the very first time and he's like if there's any other way, but nevertheless.
Speaker 3:And think about that. I mean think how much anguish that caused Christ to think about being separated from God. Yeah, does that cause me that kind of anguish? Yes, god, does that cause me that kind of anguish? Yes, unfortunately, some days I could say it doesn't cost me. I don't think of it that way. Sometimes I don't know.
Speaker 1:He was so torn over it, sweating so intensely it's as if he was sweat drops of blood I mean, it was an emotional thing and he goes back and finds the other disciples fast asleep, yeah in the exact opposite posture. Could you not stay awake with me for just a little while? And they didn't see the necessity for it. They didn't sense the timing and the desperation.
Speaker 3:And I think it's another good thought is like man, are we as we wait Christ's return? What are we doing with that weight? Are we sleep at the wheel a little bit? Are we too comfortable, or are we being diligent, being alert?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to? Yeah, right, so while he's talking to his disciples and this goes back and forth a couple times but while he's talking to his disciples, here comes Judas, leading this cohort of mob of the Jewish religious leaders and probably a temple guard, temple guard Coming to arrest Jesus. And Jesus says what are you doing? I've been in the temple every day. Why are you coming at night with these sticks and these swords? What's your problem? And some of the disciples try to get all uppity and Peter grabs a sword. And he's a fisherman, he's not a swordsman.
Speaker 1:So, he cuts off Malchus's ear and Jesus heals his ear and they still arrest them. They arrest Jesus and his disciples scatter. I mean it's gone. It's like the lights and roaches.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:They are gone and they haul Jesus off to the high priest's house. John follows at a distance, I'm sorry. Peter follows at a distance, not John. Peter follows at a distance, and that'm sorry. Peter follows at a distance, not John. Peter follows at a distance, and that's where he ends up in the courtyard and denies knowing Jesus, Even though earlier he said you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you one thing that's stuck with me from some of your preaching. I can't remember what passage, I can't remember when it was, but I just remember you preaching about this, and just the one thing. I just made a note in my Bible.
Speaker 1:Peter was warming himself at the wrong fires. When you follow Jesus at a distance, you're going to get cold, and when you get cold you're going to have to warm yourself somewhere. And sometimes you warm yourself at the wrong fire and we find that Luke 22, I believe is is that passage. So yeah, so Jesus has now been arrested. He's hauled off in the middle of the night to these sham sham illegal trials?
Speaker 1:They're not allowed to meet at night and do these things, and now we've kind of transitioned from Thursday to Friday, yeah, yeah, cause we're in the middle of the night at this point, and so the middle of the night he's taken to Caiaphas, then to the early morning hours he's taken to Pilate. Yeah, sorry, I threw you off by asking the question. So he's taken to Pilate because they've condemned him to death, but they don't have the authority to do it.
Speaker 1:So the religious leaders have to take him to the Roman leader and Pilate interviews Jesus and multiple times says this guy's innocent. He tries to let him go.
Speaker 3:He does, he tries to.
Speaker 1:He finds out that he's from you know, living in Galilee. So he sends him to Her, who happened to be in town for the festival as well. Herod tries to make a mockery of him and sends him back to Pilate. Pilate again tries to release him. His wife comes in and says have nothing to do with this guy Don't do it.
Speaker 3:But all this is fulfilling scripture.
Speaker 1:All these things are fulfilling prophecy it is, but Pilate's on his last stand with the Romans. He's already been in trouble. He's got one more strike left and then it's not the end of his job, it's the end of his life, and so he knows this. This is hanging over him, and he would rather condemn an innocent man than allow a riot to take place in Jerusalem that day. And so the Jewish leaders know that They've got him between a rock and a hard place and he caves and he at first. He tries to have him scourged as as Jesus, beaten within an inch of his life. In fact, the beating he took probably would have killed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's amazing that he survives that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just atrocious and he thought well, I'll bring them back up, they'll see this and they'll have compassion and they'll let them go. What do you want me to do with Jesus? Crucify, crucify. I'll give you an option, barabbas, you can release one of these. You have a custom here. Which one do you want me to release? This hardened criminal or this poor beaten up guy who's done nothing? The?
Speaker 3:human condition will always choose death.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the human condition will always choose death. Yes, we just will. The broken heart, yeah. So he's led off at that point to crucifixion. He's on the cross for a few hours, which is extremely short period of time for death on a cross, and he's crucified. And we won't go into all the details of the crucifixion today, but roughly about three o'clock he's on the cross dying the same time that the lambs are being taken to the temple to be sacrificed, and this is not coincidence. This is God's timing. He prays that God would forgive those. They don't know what they're doing. Right, he takes care of his mother on the cross.
Speaker 1:Uh, he offers salvation to one of the one of the thieves, one of the thieves which is, by the way, is to me one of the greatest statements of faith in all of scripture. The thief on the cross next to him, placing his faith into a dying man, someone who's dying, yeah, the cross next to him placing his faith into a dying man and to someone who's dying, yeah, and there's a whole lot of theology we could unpack there. But Jesus commends his spirit and then he literally dies. He doesn't fall asleep, he doesn't pass out, no swooning.
Speaker 3:No swooning. He dies and I think it's important to say that he lays his life down. Yes, he gives his life down, he gives his life up. No one takes it from him.
Speaker 1:Exactly, Exactly. And in the midst of that there's darkness. In the middle of the day, the temple, the veil in the temple that separates the holy of holies top to bottom is torn asunder. God has accepted Jesus' sacrifice and made a way for us to come into his presence. He's removed the obstacles. He's removed the obstacles. They take Jesus down. They put him in a borrowed grave Because he's not going to need it for long. No, he's not. He's not going to need it for long. But they have to do it by sunset because Saturday's coming, the Sabbath is coming, and they can't do it after that. So they rush him in and they put these spices on him and they roll this giant stone in. They're worried, the Roman authorities are worried that somebody's going to come steal the body and claim the Pharisees are worried, right.
Speaker 1:So they ask Pilate to set a guard over the tomb, they seal the tomb with his symbol and they put a guard on it. And on Saturday, Jesus is in the tomb. We can discuss all the other stuff, that's probably going on in that period of time. Jesus is dead and he's in the tomb. At that point, he's declaring victory, though at some point I think it's interesting.
Speaker 3:There's a famous sermon out there. You know it's Friday, but Sunday's coming right and that's exciting and it's hopeful. But I think Saturday's an interesting day because there's just not much going on. There's nothing going on, there's not. And so what are the disciples thinking? Going on, there's not. And so what are the disciples thinking? You know it's a day of waiting and hoping and praying and confusion, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a day of defeat for them. Yeah, because if they, didn't believe he was going to die. Could they possibly have believed that he was actually going to come back, like he said he was?
Speaker 2:Were they thinking about what he had told them he had?
Speaker 1:told them that he would, but they didn't believe that he was going to die. So I think they're defeated when he does resurrect and he meets two of them on the road to Emmaus. They're distraught. They're like we thought he was going to be the one and now he's gone. So I think they're in hiding because they're afraid what happened to him is going to happen to them and they're defeated. They thought, hey man, we hitched our wagon to the wrong, you know our horse to the wrong wagon or whatever that phrase goes or rag into the wrong horse.
Speaker 1:So they're defeated, but it's. Friday but Sunday's coming.
Speaker 3:So what do we do? I think just a thought is what do we do with the wait? Because we know that he's ascended to heaven now and he says he's going to return. And we've just been through second peter in our uh, in our core groups not very long ago, and the false teaching that was going around is there's this doubt about christ coming back. And and we can't live in defeat of that thought we know that he's coming back and his patience is counted as salvation for others. And so just what do we do with our Saturday?
Speaker 2:if you will.
Speaker 3:What do we do while we're waiting for him to return? Do we need to run and hide, or do we need to be diligent and aware and in prayer, yeah, sharing the gospel, should the disciples have been out saying hey, wait, till tomorrow, wait. Yeah, wait until tomorrow, he said, he said. He said in three days, exactly, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So should we not have that same attitude? Are we living a defeatist attitude? Instead of hey, he's coming back, yeah, he. Instead of hey, he's coming back, he's coming back. So Sunday morning, the ladies get up early before the sun comes up, so that they can be there just in time Sabbath ends as the sun rises, and so they can now prepare his body properly and they're talking with one another. How can we open this tomb? The stone is too big.
Speaker 3:And when they get there, who's?
Speaker 1:going to roll it away, and it's not a problem when they get there, because the stones roll away, to roll it away, and that's it's not a problem when they get there, because the stones roll away. Someone's done it Now. The stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out, it was to let them in Right, so Jesus didn't need the stone rolled away. He, he's. He's resurrected. Christ has been risen. The father has raised him, having accepted his sacrifice. Um, and he is alive. He's God, amen, he's good.
Speaker 3:What does that? I mean what? What are, just real quickly, what would be some of the implications in our life of the resurrection? I mean it's hard to do that quick, it is.
Speaker 1:I would encourage everybody to read first Corinthians 15, right. Yeah, yeah, just um, it's a. It's the passage that deals with the resurrection. If you have doubts about the resurrection, if you have questions about the timing or why the resurrection is important, it is the pivot point of human history, it is the pinnacle of our salvation History is divided by that.
Speaker 3:I know they're trying to change BC whatever, but it's.
Speaker 1:BC and AD man. Yes, exactly. And it is divided by the resurrection, christ's victory over sin, over death. He is the first fruits of the resurrection. Because he has been resurrected, we can have new life right. Because he was raised. We can be raised right. If he hasn't been raised and we're still dead in our trespasses and sins. We should be pitied above, above every other person. But he has been resurrected and because he has, we can have new life as well.
Speaker 3:Proves that he is who he said he was. Proves that the sacrifice was accepted and sufficient, and he lives now, to intercede for us forevermore, to the uttermost. So many things we could talk about.
Speaker 1:And he appears to multiple people. It's not just like Mary and a couple other ladies. He appears to disciples, he appears to over 500 people.
Speaker 3:Yes and yeah he's around about 40 days after the resurrection like you said, appearing to people, and this isn't wish-filled thinking.
Speaker 1:This is historic truth that can be verified.
Speaker 3:Eyewitness corroboration.
Speaker 1:Absolutely that Jesus is alive, so we'll celebrate that.
Speaker 2:That's what Easter week.
Speaker 1:Holy Week, passion Week, is all about A little sneak peek, a little sneak peek, but I know we've probably gone on a little longer than we normally do. But we just wanted to kind of walk through the week and just kind of set our minds. Hopefully this will come out, maybe Monday, and it'll help us just kind of set our minds for the week as we get ready towards Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 3:Fantastic. Yeah, thanks for letting me be a part.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being here, old guy. You're almost as old as me. I'm close, Tara thank you.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it Of course it was a great episode. I think a lot of the times going into Easter week or Holy Week, I'm thinking like how can I prepare my heart? And I like what you said just about how worship is costly. So I'm thinking, not about the way that the disciples were necessarily acting, but the way that Jesus was preparing for that week. I guess is, yeah, that's very good stuff. Thank you, guys both for for sharing.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Right.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:We'll see you guys soon, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Bye.
Speaker 3:Have a great time.
