(All images in this blog post gathered from Google Image Search)
Born into the world like any other human being, He lay there in the straw that starry night. Upon His arrival, blurred visions clouded His undeveloped, just opened eyes. Reaching for Him, He felt the warm, comforting grasp of His mother's arms and He realized all will be okay. But there was something different about this baby boy that made Him very much unlike any other human being. He was part man and part God. There isn't a more beautiful story of a beginning to anything. It's quite poetic, historical, and jaw dropping all in one.
I wonder if He knew that His real Father was above instantly at birth, or did that come later on in a dream/vision/direct contact of sorts? Either way this is the beginning of the story of the Savior of this world named Jesus. Yes this is a real story. If you can believe that George Washington was our first president based on historical texts out of books bound the same way the Bible is bound, then you can believe in Jesus. None of you were there for Washington's inauguration as none of you were there during Jesus's time so it takes faith to believe in each account. So what's the difference? What's so special about Jesus that makes Him different from Washington or Honest Abe?
The story of Jesus has changed the world. Period. The story of Gandhi is a great one. It is a good story and lesson on non-violence and how to win a war without fighting but instead standing firm on what you believe in. I encourage all of you to go and watch the movie Gandhi. Its a great movie and he was a great man. But that was it, he was just a great man and not a god, just a man. Another one is Muhammed. Yes, although a "prophet", he also was no god, but a man. So what makes Jesus different than everyone else in the history of this world? He claimed to be one with God the Father. That is what started this whole debacle right at, to right over, 2,000 years ago. Let's look at a brief summary of the importance of this week in history shall we? This is a loose schedule and some scholars argue its one way and some argue another, but all in all this is pretty accurate.
Day One- This was known as Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus arrived into the city of Jerusalem for the Jewish festival known as Passover. He fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that stated loosely that Jesus would arrive on a donkey into the city.
Day Two- Jesus gets angry and turns over the tables in the temple. During Passover, as like every single holiday of America today, the Jewish people market the Passover to make a prophet by offering currency exchange as well as selling animals for the Jews to sacrifice to God during these days. As He should, Jesus enters into the temple very angry turning over merchant tables and obviously frustrated makes this statement. "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." (Luke 19:46). This obviously caught some attention.
Day Three- Mainly Jesus travels to the Mount of Olives to share several famous parables to His disciples. Also it is believed that this day was the one in which Judas started his negotiations with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus.
Day Four- Interesting day here. The Bible doesn't say much about this day really. Many scholars speculate that Jesus remained silent on this day because He was rather exhausted. Many believed He spent this day with His disciples in the town of Bethany right near Jerusalem. This is where Lazurus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and his two sisters Mary and Martha resided. This day is nicknamed as "Silent Wednesday".
Day Five- This is the day the infamous Passover feast takes place between Jesus and His followers. Here Jesus demonstrates how they should remember Him and also shares the news that this will be His last meal with His disciples but that they not need be afraid for what's ahead. This is also called the Lord's Supper, or Communion. Much more can be written about the significance of this meal, but for your sake and in the interest of promptness, we will leave it there for now. Jesus leaves this scene and heads to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus makes His prayer and plea to the Father above, and also this is when Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss before His arrest. Peter tells Jesus he will never betray Him but in the late hours of the night and into the early hours of the morning, while Jesus is being judged by the High Priest and the rest of the council, Peter does deny Christ three times.
For now, since this is still Thursday (welll, pretty much haha) and "Good Friday" isn't until tomorrow, I will stop the timeline here. Let's reflect shortly on these events. These events were prophesied about in the Old Testament before they even occurred mostly. Days 1-4 are significant mainly because they all have lessons that we can learn from them. Yes they are significant in the interest of history as of what they lead up to and what they offer in themselves as the story of Jesus, but also think about what we can get from each of these days.
Day 1: Look at the prophecies of the Old Testament and see how they are all fulfilled in the New Testament. That's humanly improbable, but that's why it took someone not human to fulfill them.
Day 2: What can we learn from Jesus's acts displayed in the temple? Why did He get so mad? And what can we learn from this event to apply to our everyday lives? Hey sometimes, its okay to get a little frustrated.
Day 3: What's so important about being silent and resting like He did? Should He have rested? This day was not as much significant for Jerusalem I bet but rather Bethany where I'm sure many came to know Christ in this town.
Day 4: Okay, so I eat a little nasty cracker and drink lukewarm grape juice out of a plastic cup no one ever knows what to do with when its over. So, why is this SO significant to Christians? This is one of the ceremonies that no matter how contemporary the church, it sticks? Why was this feast and this moment so life changing? And what does it all mean for us?
I hate giving questions in my blog posts unless they are rhetorical But these days are just so packed with information I cannot possibly relay the meaning to all of this to you and especially when, as long as the facts are correct, many of you can get out of this story so many different things on so many different personal levels. Maybe your struggling from talking too much and going overboard and just haven't taken that time to be silent for a day like Jesus did. Maybe your sweat is piling up about some unknown issue like Jesus felt on that day in the Garden. Or maybe you needed some more understanding and this will encourage you to read more going forward. Either way, I hope some people got something out of this post. It will probably be my longest one yet! As you may recall from the title, this is only Part 1 of a series of 3 posts with Easter being the final one on Sunday. I will finish the chronology then and hopefully offer some more interesting information from my noodle on those two posts because I know this one was rather dry and factual, but essential still. Watch for Part 2 tomorrow!
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