Talk About A Tough Week!

January 28, 2008

Every Sunday we hear the words coming from the pulpit or lectern, "Now turn in your Bibles to . . ." Having a Bible on our laps on Sunday morning is something that we give little thought to. When our ministry returns to the cities where we have held festivals to help with discipleship and church planting, we always give away hundreds and hundreds of Bibles to the new believers. For people who have never owned a Bible before, the joy of receiving one is unimaginable.

There are many places in the world where we do ministry that even if you gave the new believers Bibles they could not read them. We often forget that much of the world is illiterate. Whenever I go to those places I am reminded so much of the early church. They did not have a Bible like we have as there were no printing presses, and most of the people could not read. Much of what the church held to was passed along by oral tradition and manuscripts that were read to the congregation. Songs were often made from the words of Scripture so that they could be remembered since they could not read.

As we come to fourteenth chapter of Mark we enter into what is known as the Passion. It refers to the week leading up to the crucifixion of Christ. It is interesting to note that the narrative of the fourteenth through the sixteenth chapters of Mark was actually circulated amongst the early churches before any of the gospels were ever penned. This narrative was so important to the early church since they held to the belief of the resurrected Christ. It appears that Mark took the manuscripts that were being circulated and added them to his book almost verbatim. Of the 661 verses in Mark, 242 deal with the last week of Jesus on earth, and 128 verses deal with the actual "Passion." Like us, their faith was founded on the resurrection of Christ.

Before the Passion comes the Passover.

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. "But not during the Feast" they said, "or the people may riot." Mark 14:1-2

The month of April was always an exiting time for the Jewish people. This was a major holiday that even induced many to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread allowed the Jewish people to reflect on their heritage and how God had delivered them centuries earlier from bondage. There was literally four weeks of preparations leading up to the week of the Passover in which children were told the various stories surrounding the exodus out of Egypt. Again, this was all taught by oral tradition.

It was required that any Jewish male living within 15 miles of Jerusalem had to go to the city for this national holiday. No one really had to be coerced to make the trek. In fact, Josephus and other historians of that day have made it clear that the population of Jerusalem swelled to huge numbers during the feast week. Some estimates have been as high as three million people celebrating during this week that Mark writes about. The increased population would account for the concern the religious leaders had regarding a potential riot if they went after the popular Jesus, especially during this sacred week.

I find it fascinating that the "powers that be" said they would not kill Jesus during the Feast and yet God said the exact opposite. Jesus in fact said that God decreed that it should happen at that precise point: "The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." Luke 22:22. Then in Acts chapter two we find Peter addressing a crowd regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christ on the cross. Peter says, "This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." The time of the slaughter of the Lamb of God was set by the Father to be at the exact time that his chosen people were celebrating the Passover with their own sacrificial lambs. Fantastic! The time of Jesus' death was not by chance it was, as the British say, "spot on" because God ordained it. God was fulfilling his covenant with his people!

Let us be reminded this week once again that God's timing is perfect. When we are going through difficult times that we wish would end, it's often hard to remember that. St. Augustine wrote, "God is not a deceiver that he should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us." God is with us in the good and bad of life.

There is a contemporary song we sing at our church that chokes me up every time we sing it. It is called Blessed Be Your Name and it thrills me. The premise of the song is that we should bless God in the good and bad of life because he is there and is using it all. Read these beautiful verses.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

As Jesus entered the Passion Week He was and is our example of blessing the Lord at all times!

Blessed be His Name,

Dan


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