THANKFUL

 Chatting with Jesus

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Lord, Scripture is silent regarding your activities on Tuesday of Holy Week. Were you perhaps taking a day of rest in preparation for the tense days ahead that would lead to the cross?  Just two days into the week, your week had been filled with memorable events. Perhaps you and your disciples slipped away to the Mount of Olives for some needed relaxation.

On Sunday, to the cheers and accolades of the crowd, you rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, symbolizing that you came in peace to a troubled and lost people. You went directly to the Temple to pray. What you observed displeased you. Not much had changed since your last visit. Since daylight was fading, you left without taking any action. Monday’s visit to the Temple would be much different.

On Monday, everything at the Temple changed. You got the attention of the religious leaders when you drove out the merchants and traders from the Temple court. Apparently, the leaders forgot how you rid the Temple of these same corrupt merchants two years earlier.  

Lord, the contempt that the religious leaders had for you was vividly displayed when you quoted Scripture that they chose to ignore: “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11). Even though you were aware that the leaders were plotting to arrest you and put you to death, you courageously continued to preach your message: that whoever believes in you as the Son of God and repents of their sins will not perish but will have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Lord, these events of Holy Week would change the destiny of the world forever. Amen, Jesus.