Minutes of Meetings with God and with Myself
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The Week That Changed Everything ...

The Gospels really don't give much detail about the life of Jesus, with one exception. Reading through the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Mark, is rather like looking through a family photo album: here is a picture of Jesus with his cousin, John the Baptizer; here is Jesus in the desert; here is Jesus with his first disciples; here is Jesus at Capernaum; here is Jesus on the Sea of Galilee; and so on. The Gospels focus briefly on an event then sort of jump over days or weeks or months to the next vignette. The only exception to the scarcity of detail is the last week of Jesus' life. Some of that week is described in agonizing detail. Nearly 40% of Mark's Gospel is given to those final days. It is the week that literally changed everything. The events of that week began on the Mount of Olives. Even today, the Mount gives an amazing view of the city of Jerusalem. Then, with the imposing presence of the Temple, the palaces and the Roman fort, the view must have been spectacular. Near the top of the Mount, Jesus sent two of his disciples to fetch a donkey, a colt upon which no man had ridden, to be his transportation into the city. As Jesus rode among the throng of Passover pilgrims who were making their way to the Temple, those of the crowd began to greet him like royalty, like the messiah. Mark 11:8-10 says: 'Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"' Jesus went to the Temple, looked around, and then went back outside the city walls. Many think he did that to make it more difficult for the authorities to capture him. He spent the night in the village of Bethany. The next day, Jesus went back into the city. On the way he passed a fig tree that had no fruit although its leaves were such as to indicate that it would. In uncharacteristic manner, Jesus cursed the fig tree; he told the tree that it would never bear fruit. Jesus went on into the city (which also had no fruit, metaphorically speaking) and into the Temple complex. In the courtyard of the Temple, Jesus over-turned the tables of the money changers (the priests required everyone who made an offering to the Temple to make it only in the official Temple coin, so all other kinds of money had to be exchanged for it ... usually at outrageous rates) and chased out the people who sold birds and animals to people for the sacrifices required by the Law. Jesus made it clear that he thought they all were crooks. What Jesus did was, at very least, an act of civil dis-obedience that the authorities found onerous; it may even have been considered riot or insurrection.At any rate, after "the cleansing of the Temple," the authorities clearly wanted Jesus dead. Jesus taught in the Temple courtyard, and then when night drew near, he left the city before the gates were closed for the night. The following morning, on the way to the city, Jesus and the disciples found that the fig tree which had been cursed had withered and died. It became "a teaching moment" when Jesus instructed them about faith and prayer. Once more, Jesus entered the city and went to the Temple to teach. In the courtyards, certain people came to Jesus to challenge his authority. Jesus rose to the challenge and left his adversaries not knowing what to do. Then Jesus taught the people. Finally, as he left for the night once again, he prophesied the siege and fall of Jerusalem, as well as the destruction of the Temple and the return of "The Son of Man." Apparently the next day, Jesus was having a meal at a home in Bethany. Sometime during the meal, a woman (who is un-named in Mark's Gospel) came into the room with an alabaster jar full of perfume. It must have been something extremely extravagant and expensive (worth a year's wages). She poured the perfume over Jesus' head. The response of some around the table was outrage at what they perceived to be wrong-headedness and waste. However, Jesus defended her, saying that she had anointed him for his burial. One of those in the room, Jesus' friend and disciple, Judas, was so upset by the episode that he went to the authorities in order to turn Jesus in. The authorities offered Judas a reward, silver (in Mark's Gospel, the amount is not given). It may have been the very next day that Jesus went into the city to celebrate the Passover. That Passover meal, a traditional Jewish Seder, became what we Christians call, "The Last Supper." It was at once a powerful, passionate, and dramatic meal. Jesus knew he was betrayed. The meal was clouded by suspicion and confusion. And, the meal became the symbol of all Jesus came to be and to do as he passed the bread and the cup, announcing to his friends: this is my body ... this is my blood. The meal ended with a hymn. Then the group, except one, retreated from the city to a place on the Mount of Olives, probably within sight of the Temple. They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus had his friends wait while he went to pray. Mark's Gospel captures Jesus' words and inner struggle simply: "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34) Jesus prayed. His friends slept. Finally, Judas arrived with a mob and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. All his friends ran away. One literally ran out of his clothes. The mob then took Jesus to the high priest's house where he suffered a night of injustice, indignity and, finally, beatings. Things got worse the next morning. Jesus was taken to the Romans. There was still no justice. Justice was sacrificed to political expediency as Pilate caved in to the pressure to crucify Jesus that the religious authorities generated through the crowds. The indignities and beatings were replaced unrelenting ridicule and ruthless tortures. After he had been beaten and tortured until he could hardly stand, he was forced to carry his cross to a hill outside the city. He could not make it all the way. He stumbled and fell. A by-stander was forced to carry his cross. Finally, Jesus was hung. Not content to simply to see him suffer physical agony, some of the crowd harangued. The men who had been Jesus' friends had all fled. The women who had followed him from Galilee could only stand and watch as his life drained away. At last he died. "With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last." (Mark 15:37) A follower, perhaps, a friend, took Jesus down from the cross and hastily put him in a tomb. It was all over but the embalming. When holy day was done, some of the women went to do that. But the stone was rolled away from the tomb. It was Resurrection! Behold, all things are becoming new!