Dr. Doug Bookman

Scripture: Matthew 26:16; Mark 14:11; Luke 22:6; John 12:37-50*

Notes: The record of the gospels moves from late Tuesday to Thursday afternoon, omitting entirely any explicit record of the events of Wednesday. (It’s for this reason that those who insist that the Triumphal Entry occurred on Sunday and the crucifixion on Friday – speak of this day as “silent Wednesday.”) Jesus doubtless remained in Bethany. But it was a busy day, as elaborate preparation was made by Jesus’s enemies for the arrest and trial (all designed to get Jesus on the cross before the city woke up, as His enemies and the Romans remembered the wild-eyed devotion to Him they had seen on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday), and as Jesus made preparation for the room in which He would keep the Feast with His disciples.

*It is virtually impossible to determine when the words of Jesus recorded in John 12:37-50 were spoken, and it is virtually certain that they were not spoken on Wednesday of the Passion Week. However, they are placed at this point by the apostle John because he regards them as an appropriate way to summarize the first section of his gospel (“He came unto His own and His own received Him not“) and to introduce the last part of the gospel account (“having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end“). Read those verses in that way – as a Spirit-breathed transition from the period of Jesus’s offer of Himself to the nation to the record of His offer of Himself as the lamb of God.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. Returns to Jerusalem, Passing by the Withered Fig Tree

Scripture: Matthew 21:20-22 and Mark 11:20-26

Notes: This occurred early on Tuesday morning, as Jesus and His disciples return to the city of Jerusalem. Mark presents the event chronologically, but Matthew grouped them together, as he tends to present events thematically.

B. Jesus Possesses the Temple Precincts and Defeats His Enemies in Open Debate

Scripture: Mark 11:27-33; Matthew 21:23-46; Luke 19:47-48; and John 12:20-36

Notes: Notice Luke’s survey of these two days: Jesus’s dramatic teaching and the consequent frustration of His enemies (Luke 19:47-48). Mark says that during this time, Jesus so thoroughly controlled the temple precincts that He would not allow a person to carry a vessel through the area (Mark 11:16). Notice that Jesus is teaching great multitudes (Luke 19:47-48), putting to silence His enemies in open debate (Matthew 21:23-27; Matthew 22:15-22, Matthew 22:23-33; cf. Luke 20:40 – all this in a culture which honored above almost all things the prowess of a man who could thus silence His enemies in this fashion), speaking scathing parables of denunciation against unbelieving Israel (Matthew 21:28-45), proving His claims from the Old Testament (Matthew 22:41-46), and finally pronouncing blistering woes specifically upon the Pharisees/Scribes, the spiritual heroes of the people and the purveyors of works righteousness by means of the Mosaic law (Matthew 23:1-36). Two notes are intriguing concerning the close of this day: Jesus’s comment concerning the widow who gave her last two mites, in such stark contrast to the spirit of the leadership (Luke 21:1-4; Mark 12:41-44), and Jesus’s weeping over the city as He departs for the final time (Matthew 23:37-39; cf. Luke 13:34-35).

Only John records the remarkable and poignant interview of Jesus with some Greek proselytes who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover and of His consequent contemplation of His own soon-coming death. It is difficult to know precisely when this event occurred, but the best guess is that it was sometime on Tuesday, during the season of teaching and confrontation in the Temple precincts. Contemplate this narrative carefully; it is very important in anticipation of the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Questions/Observations:

1. How might the events of Monday and Tuesday help explain why the city that welcomed Jesus as King on Sunday will cry for His death on Friday?
2. Again, given the drama of these two days, what must the disciples have felt concerning the issue of the soon-coming of the Kingdom?

C. Jesus Leaves for Bethany and Preaches the “Olivet Discourse”

Scripture: Matthew 24; Mark 13:1-47; and Luke 19:5-38

Notes: Notice that the question asked by the disciples (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7) indicates that the idea – the bare concept – that perhaps the kingdom will not come immediately is beginning to sink into the heads of the disciples. Note further that this “Olivet Discourse” (so-called because it was spoken on the Mount of Olives, the hill that dominates Jerusalem on the eastern side) was spoken privately to the disciples and that Jesus concludes the sermon with the command to “Watch” (Mark 13:37) because the drama Jesus describes here could commence at any moment. After this discourse, Jesus and the disciples return to Bethany once again for the night; they will remain there through Wednesday and until Thursday afternoon when they will return to the city for the Passover Feast in a borrowed room of a large home on the Western Hill. However, late on Tuesday night, one of the twelve will steal away to perform an unspeakably dastardly act of betrayal.

D. Judas, Stung by Jesus’s Rebuke (over the Expensive Anointing), Sneaks Off

Scripture: Matthew 26:1-16; Mark 14:1-11; Luke 22:1-6

Notes: Notice several elements of this very important scene. 1) The Jewish leadership in all of its parts – Pharisees/Scribes and Sadducees/Priests – are galvanized in their hatred of and anger toward Jesus and are taking counsel together to put Him to death. (This is because of the events of the last three days.) 2) The reason they are convinced they cannot kill Him until after the Feast is the wild-eyed fascination of the people with Jesus – they (i.e., Jesus’s enemies) “feared the people.” (Jesus knew how superficial and self-serving that fascination was, but the Jewish leadership did not – and neither did Jesus’s disciples.) 3) Because of Jesus’s popularity, the Jewish leadership knew that they would have to get the Romans (Pilate) to execute Jesus. That is, they were persuaded that had they spirited Him off and stoned Him, as they would later do to Stephen, there would be riots, and the Romans would exact retribution of those who sparked those riots. It is for this set of reasons that Jesus would die by crucifixion (Roman method) rather than by stoning (standard Jewish method). 4) The elaborate preparations necessary to the drama which would culminate with the crucifixion on Friday morning could not commence until Tuesday night when Judas showed up to help the Sanhedrinists get it done.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice carefully what Judas agreed to do to assist the Sanhedrinists in the execution of Jesus (Luke 22:6).
2. As you read concerning the events of subsequent days, remember that Judas is convulsed by a desire to fulfill this commitment; he is looking for an opportunity to “betray Jesus to them in the absence of the multitude.”

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. Jesus Curses the Fig Tree on the Way from Bethany on Monday Morning

Scripture: Mark 11:12-14 and Matthew 21:18-19

Notes: There were two stages to this event: on Monday the tree was cursed, on Tuesday it was found withered. Mark makes this clear. Matthew (as was his customary style) grouped them together (he tends to arrange events more thematically than chronologically). Matthew 21:18 refers to Monday morning (i.e., the morning of the day which he had narrated in Matthew 21:12-17); Matthew 21:20 refers to Tuesday morning (when the fig tree was discovered to have withered, and Jesus responded to the wonder of His disciples).

The day did not begin with a meal in Jewish culture, so they would often “snack” early in the day. Fig trees bore fruit twice a year: (harvestable summer figs, harvested in the autumn and worthless winter figs which appeared in the spring). There should have been winter figs on this tree, but Jesus found none.

Questions/Observations: What do you think might have been the point Jesus was making in the cursing of the fig tree? (That is, what spiritual reality is Jesus illustrating in this act – if any?)

B. The Second Cleansing of the Temple on Monday Morning

Scripture: Matthew 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-19; and Luke 19:45-48

Notes: This was not just an act of resentment, as if Jesus stumbled on abuses He had not anticipated and flew into a righteous rage. There were four Passovers during Jesus’s ministry. He cleansed the temple at the first (John 2), and then again at this feast (the fourth and last). There is strategy in this. In that regard, it is important to note whose territory Jesus was treading upon here.

It is impossible to overstate the anger that this act produced in the leadership of the Jewish nation, or the delight it generated in the hearts of the Jewish people.

Questions/Observations: The temple was the jurisdiction of the Sadducees (by Roman decree); the synagogue was the domain of the Pharisees (by practical realities). Given that, what strategy do you think might be involved in Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple at this time?

C. Jesus Returns to Bethany to Lodge for the Night

Scripture: Mark 11:11 and Matthew 21:17

Notes: The cleansing of the temple is basically all that is described in the gospel narrative of Monday of the Passion Week; after this event, Jesus returned to Bethany (Matthew 21:17; Mark 11:11). Jesus’s life was in constant and real danger; by walking with the vast crowds moving in and out of the city, and by lodging in Bethany – a village that deeply loved Jesus – at the home of a friend (who, by Jewish mores, was bound to provide protection for his Guest), Jesus protected Himself from the murderous designs of the Jewish leaders.

Questions/Observations: Remember that the disciples were convinced the kingdom was about to be established (Luke 19:11). How might the events of Sunday and Monday have affected that persuasion?

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).