Well this week promises to be one of the most exciting weeks of the year. This is Easter Week and this is the time that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. As crazy as it may sound or read we celebrate His death as well. After all, there can be no new life, resurrection, if there is no death... that is a sermon all by itself isn't it. I'm not going there this morning, but I will say that there are things that we need to put to "death" so that there can be new life...death to materialism so that we can give freely to the Lord's work...death to addictions and death to heartaches and hurts...there's new life on the other side of the "death" if we'll only let go of the old and embrace the new that awaits...like I said, I'm not preaching this morning....moving on!
So today is Monday...just 5 days before the death of Jesus on the Cross. Let's stop and take a look at the events that were going on in the life of Jesus leading up to this coming Friday.
Sunday had finished with Christ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as the people sang "Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lard! Praise God in highest heavens!"
MONDAY MORNING- Jesus was returning to Jerusalem (Matt 21:17). Jesus was hungry and noticed a fig tree so He went to it to see if there were any figs that He could eat but it only had leaves. Jesus told the tree "You will never bear fruit again." The tree then withered up immediately. At this point the disciples were amazed and Jesus reminded them that with faith they could do anything...even throw a mountain into the sea. The miracle of the death of the fig tree symbolized God's setting aside the nation of Israel. Matt 21:43-44 said that just as the fig tree bore no fruit and was cursed so also was Israel set aside because of her fruitlessness.
THE TEMPLE - Jesus also walked into the Temple on this day and drove out the merchants that were buying and selling animals that Jews could use for sacrifice. He turned over the tables and chairs and declared that His house WILL be called a house of prayer.
THE KIDS - How exciting this is...The leading priests and teachers saw the miracles of Jesus and heard the children in the Temple shouting "Praise god for the Son of David." This of course made the leaders/teachers mad and Jesus reminded them of what Scriptures say "You have taught children and infants to give you praise." (Psalm 8:22). Isn't it exciting to think about how little children can so easily "see" God and even praise Him while us older, more educated and studied adults can just walk right past spiritual things and sometimes even miss Christ?
Well stayed tuned til tomorrow and we shall see what happened on Tuesday...
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