Day of the New Covenant

    Today is a wonderful and amazingly special day.  Today is the day, that God’s people will celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Many years ago, back in Old Testament Scriptures, we can read about how God saved His people from a very hateful and mean people called Egyptian's, who kept God’s people for slaves.  God delivered His people from being the Egyptian's slaves.  On the day that God’s people were able to leave Egypt , they had to leave swiftly.  God told them to make their bread without yeast.  Yeast is the leaven in bread that causes it to rise, but yeast takes time to work.  So, the women made their bread without yeast.  Once they were free, God told them to remember Him and how He saved them by making their bread without yeast the same time every year.  He told them to have a big celebration every year and to call it the, “Feast of Unleavened Bread”.  This Feast lasted seven days, and always started the day before Passover.  That is why God’s people celebrated the two together like a big festival.  It was a happy time for God’s people.  No matter what was going on at that time, when it was the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, they remembered how much God loved them and took care of them.  This is why all of God’s people came to Jerusalem this week.  Since tomorrow will be the Passover, today is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

     Jesus’ disciples went to prepare the Feast just as He had told them to.  Once all of the disciples and Jesus were together in the upper room above a certain man’s house,  Jesus said something that shook the disciples up.  He told them that one of them was going to betray Him.  One His own disciples would betray Him.  He told them that one of them that had just dipped their bread in the bowl with Him, would be the one to betray Him.  In that day, only friends and family that trusted each other would dip their bread in the same bowl of wine or honey.  Jesus is saying here that the one who would betray Him, was one who had shared the bowl with Him.  Someone Jesus should have been able to trust would betray Him, and Jesus knew it.  The disciples began to ask Jesus one by one if it would be them that hurt Him.  Jesus told them that it would really be terrible for the one that was betraying Him, and that it would have been better for that person to never to have even been born.  Jesus told them that He knew it must be this way because the Scriptures from the Old Testament said it would happen like this.  Even though one disciple would betray Him, it would not happen if God did not have it that way. But God’s plan was that this year, Jesus would be the once and for all,  Passover Lamb.

     Then finally,  Judas asked if he was the one.  Judas knew he was.  He had already been paid to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  He was just seeing if Jesus knew it was him that would be the betrayer.   Jesus told him that it was indeed him,  Judas Iscariot, that was the betrayer.

     After this, Jesus did a very amazing thing.  The unleavened bread and wine they were having was because of their celebration.  But,  Jesus was about to change all of those years of tradition.  He took the bread, blessed it, broke it into pieces and gave a piece to each of His disciples.  He then told them, “Take this and eat it, for this is My body. Do this to remember Me.”  They had never heard such a thing.  Then Jesus took the cup and gave thanks to God for it.  He gave the disciples the cup and said, “Each of you drink from it, for his is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people.  It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”  This was something new for Jesus to say.  The wine in the cup always reminded the people of the blood over the door posts.  The bread reminded them of how God quickly freed them from slavery.  This was a new teaching  Jesus gave them.  Jesus was teaching the disciples about the new and better covenant they would have.  From here on this would not be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover.  This time of remembering God’s goodness would be called, “The Lord’s Supper”.  This is very important but they did not understand.... yet.  They all sang a hymn and went out and back to the, Mount of Olives.  They probably sang Psalm 116-118.

     On the way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told the disciples that tonight each one of them would desert Him, the Old Testament Scriptures said that it would happen that way.  But He told them that after He was raised from the dead that He would go ahead of them and meet them in Galilee.  Jesus’ disciple Peter said he would never desert Jesus.  Jesus told Peter that this very night before the rooster crows in the morning he would deny Him three time and tell people he never even knew Me.  Peter insisted that he would die with Jesus before he would deny Him.  The other disciples said the same thing.

     When they got to the Mount of Olives, they went to an olive grove called, Gethsemane.  Jesus asked His disciples to sit while He went to pray.  He took Peter, James and John with Him.  Jesus told the three of them He was very sad because of the sins in the world.  He asked these disciples to stay watch for Him while He prayed.  Jesus walked a little way from them and bowed down, His face to the ground, and prayed to God.  He asked His Father in Heaven if it was possible for Him to not face this awful death tomorrow.  He told His Heavenly Father whatever He wanted,  Jesus would do.  Jesus went back to Peter, James and John.  They were sleeping.  Jesus woke them up and asked them again to please stay awake and watch out for Him as He prayed.  Jesus went back to prayer.  God had answered Jesus about the awful death tomorrow.  Jesus told His Father that He understood that the cup of death could not be removed from Him.  He told God He would be obedient and see to it that His Father’s will was done.  Jesus went back to His disciples.  They were sleeping again.  He said nothing to them and went back to keep praying.  When He was done praying the third time, Jesus woke the three disciples up.  He told them He had been betrayed into the hands of evil men and to get up and get going back to the other disciples because His betrayer had come back and was now among them.
     At some point, Judas had left the group of disciples because he was the one Jesus was talking about coming back, and was now with the evil men that had come to harm Him.  Judas was walking with a group of men toward the other disciples and Jesus.  The men with Judas were carrying swords and clubs.  The religious leaders sent them to arrest Jesus.  It was night time and there was no one around except these men, the disciples, and Jesus.  These men had come to take Jesus like thieves under the cover of night, this way they did not have to worry about what the people would think or do.  Since it was dark and some of these evil men may not have been sure who Jesus was,  Judas had given them a signal to know which One was Jesus.  He would kiss Jesus on the cheek as a sign for them to arrest Him.   Judas greeted Jesus, and then gave him the kiss.   Jesus knew what this meant and told Judas to go ahead and do what he had come to do.  The men with clubs and swords grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.  Peter grabbed the arresting man’s sword to get him to let Jesus go.  Jesus instructed him to put the sword away.  He asked Peter if he did not understand that He could call on His Father in Heaven for help and that God would send thousands of angels to protect all of them instantly?  He told the disciples that He could do that, but then how would the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures be fulfilled as they were meant to be?   Jesus told everyone there He could have been arrested in the temple since He was there everyday; but that this was happening the way it was to fulfill the Scriptures.

     The arresting men took Jesus to the high priest Caiaphas’ house where all of the religious leaders were waiting for Him.  Peter followed some distance behind.  All of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Elders and teachers put together in a council of men were called, the Sanhedrin.  They were all there.  The laws of that day said that there was to never be a trial at night, but the Sanhedrin held a trial right then and there at night.  They broke their own laws because they were so desperate to kill  Jesus.  They tried again to trick Him and they tried to get people to lie about Him.  Finally, they asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  Jesus told them He was.  Caiaphas declared that Jesus was speaking disrespectfully about God and asked the Sanhedrin for a vote.  They said He was guilty and should die. These religious leaders began to beat Jesus, they even spit in His face.

     Peter had secretly watched all of this.  He knew they were going to kill Jesus and he was afraid for his own life.  While sitting outside of a house in a courtyard a servant girl said to Peter that  he was one of the men with that Jesus from, Galilee.  Peter said, No! and that he did not know what she was talking about.  A little later out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to the people standing around, “This man was was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  Again Peter denied knowing Jesus and he swore to it.  A little later some of the the people standing around came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”   Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying-I don’t know the man!”  Immediately, the rooster crowed.  Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter's mind:  “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”  Peter left the courtyard crying very hard... he completely undone.  Now, the sun is starting to come up.  And, it will be Friday, the day Jesus has been talking about all week.

   Today was a day of fellowship in the upper room and of announcing a new and better covenant.

   Oh Father, I pray Your church embrace all the Jesus did this night those 2,000 years ago!

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Day of Authority!

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Overcoming unbelief!

   Last week on Facebook I posted an article by Chris Cree that had to do with the differences between faith and belief/unbelief. He wrote the article in November 2015, but re-posted it. I loved seeing that because I had been studying that very topic for a week when I saw it. You can read this article HERE. I am still studying faith and unbelief/belief out and this morning I caught myself pondering something I thought worth sharing here.

   These two verses have been omitted from several Bible versions, translations, while others will footnote them discrediting their validity.

However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

Matthew 17:21

So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” 

Mark 9:29

    These verses are valid and very important. It is unfortunate they get in the way of certain scholars theology because they are quite simple to understand, support the overall message of the Bible, and are very powerful. Both verses are part of the same account of a man's son vexed by a demon spirit. Jesus' disciples could not cast it out even though they had done so with Jesus. Jesus comes on the scene only to find His disciples arguing with the scribes over the matter. When Jesus inquires as to the nature of the disputing the father of the afflicted boy tells him of the disciples inability to help his son, and says to Jesus, "...but if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." is Jesus' reply. The father cried out with tears in his eyes, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 

   Jesus is not saying that this particular demon spirit is so very powerful that one must fast and pray to get it to leave a person. NO! Jesus' initial response to the arguing that He came upon was, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” He then cast the demon out of the boy. He did not begin to pray, call for a time of prayer with accompanying fasting. He just cast the evil demon out.

   Before I state the thought I was pondering this morning I want to say two things. Firstly, we do not do "works" to accomplish kingdom business, Jesus has done it all. We simply believe and use our faith for what we have already been given. Secondly, being a carnally minded rather than Holy Spirit led and minded is death.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

So the thought I was meditating on this morning is, the more you live (think and behave) like the world, the weaker your faith becomes because the world feeds unbelief.

   You see, Jesus was very clear that it was their unbelief that kept them from successfully getting that demon out of that boy. When the disciples ask why they could not cast it out, Jesus point blank said, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." 

   The point here is that we must be prepared for such opportunities to have victory when encountering the wiles of the devil. The only way to do that is to have been spending time in prayer (abiding in God's Word and making the Word, and God the center of our life) and then fasting those things that are of the world, are carnal and that destroy our belief in what God has given us. Stop watching the news and its horror and start putting the goodness, mercy and love of God our souls. Stop watching (I am not going to be politically correct here) the TRASH on television, including all the commercials about all the medication for all the diseases and a myriad of other messages that are completely contrary to what God has told us. Exchange the world influences in your life for the true life of God. When you are full of the world, you will only have the worldly and carnal to draw on. When you are full of God and His Word, you will have the kind of power to draw on that is required to operate in the things God left us to do.

   So from the thought I had this morning, "The more you live (think and behave) like the world, the weaker your faith becomes because the world feed unbelief" came this post.

   Guard your heart, build your faith and live victorious. If you haven't already, then start now! There is a great life ahead, just live it!!

Day of the New Covenant

    Today is a wonderful and amazingly special day.  Today is the day, that God’s people will celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Many years ago, back in Old Testament Scriptures, we can read about how God saved His people from a very hateful and mean people called Egyptian's, who kept God’s people for slaves.  God delivered His people from being the Egyptian's slaves.  On the day that God’s people were able to leave Egypt , they had to leave swiftly.  God told them to make their bread without yeast.  Yeast is the leaven in bread that causes it to rise, but yeast takes time to work.  So, the women made their bread without yeast.  Once they were free, God told them to remember Him and how He saved them by making their bread without yeast the same time every year.  He told them to have a big celebration every year and to call it the, “Feast of Unleavened Bread”.  This Feast lasted seven days, and always started the day before Passover.  That is why God’s people celebrated the two together like a big festival.  It was a happy time for God’s people.  No matter what was going on at that time, when it was the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, they remembered how much God loved them and took care of them.  This is why all of God’s people came to Jerusalem this week.  Since tomorrow will be the Passover, today is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

     Jesus’ disciples went to prepare the Feast just as He had told them to.  Once all of the disciples and Jesus were together in the upper room above a certain man’s house,  Jesus said something that shook the disciples up.  He told them that one of them was going to betray Him.  One His own disciples would betray Him.  He told them that one of them that had just dipped their bread in the bowl with Him, would be the one to betray Him.  In that day, only friends and family that trusted each other would dip their bread in the same bowl of wine or honey.  Jesus is saying here that the one who would betray Him, was one who had shared the bowl with Him.  Someone Jesus should have been able to trust would betray Him, and Jesus knew it.  The disciples began to ask Jesus one by one if it would be them that hurt Him.  Jesus told them that it would really be terrible for the one that was betraying Him, and that it would have been better for that person to never to have even been born.  Jesus told them that He knew it must be this way because the Scriptures from the Old Testament said it would happen like this.  Even though one disciple would betray Him, it would not happen if God did not have it that way. But God’s plan was that this year, Jesus would be the once and for all,  Passover Lamb.

     Then finally,  Judas asked if he was the one.  Judas knew he was.  He had already been paid to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  He was just seeing if Jesus knew it was him that would be the betrayer.   Jesus told him that it was indeed him,  Judas Iscariot, that was the betrayer.

     After this, Jesus did a very amazing thing.  The unleavened bread and wine they were having was because of their celebration.  But,  Jesus was about to change all of those years of tradition.  He took the bread, blessed it, broke it into pieces and gave a piece to each of His disciples.  He then told them, “Take this and eat it, for this is My body. Do this to remember Me.”  They had never heard such a thing.  Then Jesus took the cup and gave thanks to God for it.  He gave the disciples the cup and said, “Each of you drink from it, for his is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people.  It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”  This was something new for Jesus to say.  The wine in the cup always reminded the people of the blood over the door posts.  The bread reminded them of how God quickly freed them from slavery.  This was a new teaching  Jesus gave them.  Jesus was teaching the disciples about the new and better covenant they would have.  From here on this would not be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover.  This time of remembering God’s goodness would be called, “The Lord’s Supper”.  This is very important but they did not understand.... yet.  They all sang a hymn and went out and back to the, Mount of Olives.  They probably sang Psalm 116-118.

     On the way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told the disciples that tonight each one of them would desert Him, the Old Testament Scriptures said that it would happen that way.  But He told them that after He was raised from the dead that He would go ahead of them and meet them in Galilee.  Jesus’ disciple Peter said he would never desert Jesus.  Jesus told Peter that this very night before the rooster crows in the morning he would deny Him three time and tell people he never even knew Me.  Peter insisted that he would die with Jesus before he would deny Him.  The other disciples said the same thing.

     When they got to the Mount of Olives, they went to an olive grove called, Gethsemane.  Jesus asked His disciples to sit while He went to pray.  He took Peter, James and John with Him.  Jesus told the three of them He was very sad because of the sins in the world.  He asked these disciples to stay watch for Him while He prayed.  Jesus walked a little way from them and bowed down, His face to the ground, and prayed to God.  He asked His Father in Heaven if it was possible for Him to not face this awful death tomorrow.  He told His Heavenly Father whatever He wanted,  Jesus would do.  Jesus went back to Peter, James and John.  They were sleeping.  Jesus woke them up and asked them again to please stay awake and watch out for Him as He prayed.  Jesus went back to prayer.  God had answered Jesus about the awful death tomorrow.  Jesus told His Father that He understood that the cup of death could not be removed from Him.  He told God He would be obedient and see to it that His Father’s will was done.  Jesus went back to His disciples.  They were sleeping again.  He said nothing to them and went back to keep praying.  When He was done praying the third time, Jesus woke the three disciples up.  He told them He had been betrayed into the hands of evil men and to get up and get going back to the other disciples because His betrayer had come back and was now among them.
     At some point, Judas had left the group of disciples because he was the one Jesus was talking about coming back, and was now with the evil men that had come to harm Him.  Judas was walking with a group of men toward the other disciples and Jesus.  The men with Judas were carrying swords and clubs.  The religious leaders sent them to arrest Jesus.  It was night time and there was no one around except these men, the disciples, and Jesus.  These men had come to take Jesus like thieves under the cover of night, this way they did not have to worry about what the people would think or do.  Since it was dark and some of these evil men may not have been sure who Jesus was,  Judas had given them a signal to know which One was Jesus.  He would kiss Jesus on the cheek as a sign for them to arrest Him.   Judas greeted Jesus, and then gave him the kiss.   Jesus knew what this meant and told Judas to go ahead and do what he had come to do.  The men with clubs and swords grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.  Peter grabbed the arresting man’s sword to get him to let Jesus go.  Jesus instructed him to put the sword away.  He asked Peter if he did not understand that He could call on His Father in Heaven for help and that God would send thousands of angels to protect all of them instantly?  He told the disciples that He could do that, but then how would the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures be fulfilled as they were meant to be?   Jesus told everyone there He could have been arrested in the temple since He was there everyday; but that this was happening the way it was to fulfill the Scriptures.

     The arresting men took Jesus to the high priest Caiaphas’ house where all of the religious leaders were waiting for Him.  Peter followed some distance behind.  All of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Elders and teachers put together in a council of men were called, the Sanhedrin.  They were all there.  The laws of that day said that there was to never be a trial at night, but the Sanhedrin held a trial right then and there at night.  They broke their own laws because they were so desperate to kill  Jesus.  They tried again to trick Him and they tried to get people to lie about Him.  Finally, they asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  Jesus told them He was.  Caiaphas declared that Jesus was speaking disrespectfully about God and asked the Sanhedrin for a vote.  They said He was guilty and should die. These religious leaders began to beat Jesus, they even spit in His face.

     Peter had secretly watched all of this.  He knew they were going to kill Jesus and he was afraid for his own life.  While sitting outside of a house in a courtyard a servant girl said to Peter that  he was one of the men with that Jesus from, Galilee.  Peter said, No! and that he did not know what she was talking about.  A little later out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to the people standing around, “This man was was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  Again Peter denied knowing Jesus and he swore to it.  A little later some of the the people standing around came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”   Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying-I don’t know the man!”  Immediately, the rooster crowed.  Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter's mind:  “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”  Peter left the courtyard crying very hard... he completely undone.  Now, the sun is starting to come up.  And, it will be Friday, the day Jesus has been talking about all week.

   Today was a day of fellowship in the upper room and of announcing a new and better covenant.

   Oh Father I pray Your church embrace all the Jesus did this night those 2,000 years ago!

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.

Day of Authority!

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Day of the New Covenant

    Today is a wonderful and amazingly special day.  Today is the day, that God’s people will celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Many years ago, back in Old Testament Scriptures, we can read about how God saved His people from a very hateful and mean people called Egyptian's, who kept God’s people for slaves.  God delivered His people from being the Egyptian's slaves.  On the day that God’s people were able to leave Egypt , they had to leave swiftly.  God told them to make their bread without yeast.  Yeast is the leaven in bread that causes it to rise, but yeast takes time to work.  So, the women made their bread without yeast.  Once they were free, God told them to remember Him and how He saved them by making their bread without yeast the same time every year.  He told them to have a big celebration every year and to call it the, “Feast of Unleavened Bread”.  This Feast lasted seven days, and always started the day before Passover.  That is why God’s people celebrated the two together like a big festival.  It was a happy time for God’s people.  No matter what was going on at that time, when it was the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, they remembered how much God loved them and took care of them.  This is why all of God’s people came to Jerusalem this week.  Since tomorrow will be the Passover, today is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

     Jesus’ disciples went to prepare the Feast just as He had told them to.  Once all of the disciples and Jesus were together in the upper room above a certain man’s house,  Jesus said something that shook the disciples up.  He told them that one of them was going to betray Him.  One His own disciples would betray Him.  He told them that one of them that had just dipped their bread in the bowl with Him, would be the one to betray Him.  In that day, only friends and family that trusted each other would dip their bread in the same bowl of wine or honey.  Jesus is saying here that the one who would betray Him, was one who had shared the bowl with Him.  Someone Jesus should have been able to trust would betray Him, and Jesus knew it.  The disciples began to ask Jesus one by one if it would be them that hurt Him.  Jesus told them that it would really be terrible for the one that was betraying Him, and that it would have been better for that person to never to have even been born.  Jesus told them that He knew it must be this way because the Scriptures from the Old Testament said it would happen like this.  Even though one disciple would betray Him, it would not happen if God did not have it that way. But God’s plan was that this year, Jesus would be the once and for all,  Passover Lamb.

     Then finally,  Judas asked if he was the one.  Judas knew he was.  He had already been paid to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  He was just seeing if Jesus knew it was him that would be the betrayer.   Jesus told him that it was indeed him,  Judas Iscariot, that was the betrayer.

     After this, Jesus did a very amazing thing.  The unleavened bread and wine they were having was because of their celebration.  But,  Jesus was about to change all of those years of tradition.  He took the bread, blessed it, broke it into pieces and gave a piece to each of His disciples.  He then told them, “Take this and eat it, for this is My body. Do this to remember Me.”  They had never heard such a thing.  Then Jesus took the cup and gave thanks to God for it.  He gave the disciples the cup and said, “Each of you drink from it, for his is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people.  It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”  This was something new for Jesus to say.  The wine in the cup always reminded the people of the blood over the door posts.  The bread reminded them of how God quickly freed them from slavery.  This was a new teaching  Jesus gave them.  Jesus was teaching the disciples about the new and better covenant they would have.  From here on this would not be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover.  This time of remembering God’s goodness would be called, “The Lord’s Supper”.  This is very important but they did not understand.... yet.  They all sang a hymn and went out and back to the, Mount of Olives.  They probably sang Psalm 116-118.

     On the way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told the disciples that tonight each one of them would desert Him, the Old Testament Scriptures said that it would happen that way.  But He told them that after He was raised from the dead that He would go ahead of them and meet them in Galilee.  Jesus’ disciple Peter said he would never desert Jesus.  Jesus told Peter that this very night before the rooster crows in the morning he would deny Him three time and tell people he never even knew Me.  Peter insisted that he would die with Jesus before he would deny Him.  The other disciples said the same thing.

     When they got to the Mount of Olives, they went to an olive grove called, Gethsemane.  Jesus asked His disciples to sit while He went to pray.  He took Peter, James and John with Him.  Jesus told the three of them He was very sad because of the sins in the world.  He asked these disciples to stay watch for Him while He prayed.  Jesus walked a little way from them and bowed down, His face to the ground, and prayed to God.  He asked His Father in Heaven if it was possible for Him to not face this awful death tomorrow.  He told His Heavenly Father whatever He wanted,  Jesus would do.  Jesus went back to Peter, James and John.  They were sleeping.  Jesus woke them up and asked them again to please stay awake and watch out for Him as He prayed.  Jesus went back to prayer.  God had answered Jesus about the awful death tomorrow.  Jesus told His Father that He understood that the cup of death could not be removed from Him.  He told God He would be obedient and see to it that His Father’s will was done.  Jesus went back to His disciples.  They were sleeping again.  He said nothing to them and went back to keep praying.  When He was done praying the third time, Jesus woke the three disciples up.  He told them He had been betrayed into the hands of evil men and to get up and get going back to the other disciples because His betrayer had come back and was now among them.
     At some point, Judas had left the group of disciples because he was the one Jesus was talking about coming back, and was now with the evil men that had come to harm Him.  Judas was walking with a group of men toward the other disciples and Jesus.  The men with Judas were carrying swords and clubs.  The religious leaders sent them to arrest Jesus.  It was night time and there was no one around except these men, the disciples, and Jesus.  These men had come to take Jesus like thieves under the cover of night, this way they did not have to worry about what the people would think or do.  Since it was dark and some of these evil men may not have been sure who Jesus was,  Judas had given them a signal to know which One was Jesus.  He would kiss Jesus on the cheek as a sign for them to arrest Him.   Judas greeted Jesus, and then gave him the kiss.   Jesus knew what this meant and told Judas to go ahead and do what he had come to do.  The men with clubs and swords grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.  Peter grabbed the arresting man’s sword to get him to let Jesus go.  Jesus instructed him to put the sword away.  He asked Peter if he did not understand that He could call on His Father in Heaven for help and that God would send thousands of angels to protect all of them instantly?  He told the disciples that He could do that, but then how would the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures be fulfilled as they were meant to be?   Jesus told everyone there He could have been arrested in the temple since He was there everyday; but that this was happening the way it was to fulfill the Scriptures.

     The arresting men took Jesus to the high priest Caiaphas’ house where all of the religious leaders were waiting for Him.  Peter followed some distance behind.  All of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Elders and teachers put together in a council of men were called, the Sanhedrin.  They were all there.  The laws of that day said that there was to never be a trial at night, but the Sanhedrin held a trial right then and there at night.  They broke their own laws because they were so desperate to kill  Jesus.  They tried again to trick Him and they tried to get people to lie about Him.  Finally, they asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  Jesus told them He was.  Caiaphas declared that Jesus was speaking disrespectfully about God and asked the Sanhedrin for a vote.  They said He was guilty and should die. These religious leaders began to beat Jesus, they even spit in His face.

     Peter had secretly watched all of this.  He knew they were going to kill Jesus and he was afraid for his own life.  While sitting outside of a house in a courtyard a servant girl said to Peter that  he was one of the men with that Jesus from, Galilee.  Peter said, No! and that he did not know what she was talking about.  A little later out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to the people standing around, “This man was was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  Again Peter denied knowing Jesus and he swore to it.  A little later some of the the people standing around came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”   Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying-I don’t know the man!”  Immediately, the rooster crowed.  Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter's mind:  “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”  Peter left the courtyard crying very hard... he completely undone.  Now, the sun is starting to come up.  And, it will be Friday, the day Jesus has been talking about all week.

   Today was a day of fellowship in the upper room and of announcing a new and better covenant.

   Oh Father I pray Your church embrace all the Jesus did this night those 2,000 years ago!

Day of Questions

   When Jesus got up on Tuesday morning, He went back to the temple. He had so much to teach the people and so little time to do it in. The temple chief priests and elders were there and had planned to badger Jesus with ridiculous religious questions in hope He would answer saying something they could have Him arrested for. They wanted Jesus arrested and killed. They began bombarding Him with trick questions that no matter how He answered He would have to say something that could get Him arrested. Since Jesus knew His Father and knew the writings we now call the Old Testament, they could not trick Him. Instead of answering their questions, He began telling parables. In His first parable Jesus uses the story of two sons and tells them the simple fact that the vilest of sinners will find their eternal home in Heaven because of their repentant heart and their repentance, there will be religious pretenders that will not go to Heaven, but to Hell because of their lack of repentance.

   The second parable is about wicked vinedressers and was much more severe in its message. There were people in Israel that had treated God’s prophets horribly, and now there were the same type of people plotting to kill Jesus. By rejecting Jesus these people were rejecting their place in the Kingdom of God.

   The third parable is set at a wedding feast. There are those that reject the invitation to the wedding feast, and those that accept. Those that reject His invitation will see the ruin of Jerusalem just as the people that declined the King’s invitation to his son’s wedding saw their town burned down. Those that accepted the invitation would be blessed. This lot is who God will use to finish His redemptive work. These were the Gentiles, those of us that believe Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior Messiah. People that truly choose to accept and follow Jesus would be given the authority and all of the promises from God.

   The Pharisees knew that Jesus was talking about them when He told these parables about people that do not love God and do not believe and accept, Jesus. They were livid. They were now ready to get the job at hand done, kill Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies, but they got together and asked Jesus a very tricky question. They were sure He would answer wrongly because if He said yes to the question the people would be angry with Him. If He said no, they could arrest Him. Even if they did not get to arrest Jesus with His answer, they would have been happy with just turning the people against Him. Then, arresting Jesus later would be easier since the people would not be upset about it. The evil leaders said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know how honest You are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now, tell us what you think abut this; Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The people did not like the way the Roman government did the taxes and so they would be upset if Jesus said, “Yes.” to pay Caesar. If He said “No.” the Pharisees would have Jesus reported to the Roman authorities and He would be arrested for being a traitor. Those evil men thought for sure they had Jesus. But, Jesus saw their wickedness and He knew what they were up to. Jesus said to them,  “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought Jesus a Roman coin. Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s.” they replied. Jesus then answered their question. “Well, then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” That settled it and, the people were not upset and the evil leaders had no just cause to arrest Jesus. The Pharisees and Herodians were amazed. They left Jesus.

   The Sadducees were another group of men that hated Jesus. These men did not believe Jesus would be raised from the dead even though the prophets had written about it in the Old Testament. And, when Jesus does come alive after He dies, they work very hard to keep the disciples from preaching about it. They did not believe in angels even though many men had written down true stories about how the angels did things in the Old Testament. The Pharisees thought and acted like the Romans, but the Sadducees thought and acted more like the Greeks. The Pharisees were very interested in the law of the Old Testament. So much so that they made things up to try to make people do the law their way. The Sadducees were suppose to be religious leaders, but they really did not believe God had anything to do with religion. They did not believe He was a living God. These men thought they were great thinkers and that their thoughts about the Old Testament were more important than what God had actually penned through chosen men. But, the one thing the Pharisees and Sadducees had in common was that they both wanted Jesus out of the picture. They came together to try to kill Him..... just like the Old Testament said they would.

   Since the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, the Sadducees thought they might have a go at Him. They tried to trick Him with a question about something written in the Old Testament. Once again, Jesus told these people trying to trick Him that their ideas about the Old Testament were wrong and that they did not understand the things of God. Jesus told them that they did not understand the power of God. He answered their question in a way that was the very truth of the matter and amazed everyone. The Sadducees could not trick Jesus, either.

   The Scribes were men that were the lawyers among the religious leaders. Not all of the Pharisees were Scribes, but the Scribes were Pharisees. They actually wrote the laws. These were the men that added to God’s Word to make up their own laws for the people to obey. The people had to obey these Scribes, they were very powerful. They were good at arguing the law and also very evil. When the Pharisees found out that the Sadducees had also failed to trick Jesus into saying something that would get Himself killed, they got together and sent a snakey Scribe to try to trick Him. Scribes were good at tricking people with words and so they were sure a Scribe could trick Jesus. The Scribes asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. A law question.... of course. These Scribes had written more laws than they could even remember. They were silly made up laws that no one could keep. They were just trying to be the big rulers and be bossy so they could be the well.... the bosses. Once again, Jesus saw right through them. He understood what they were trying to do. He quoted to them something they themselves repeated two times everyday. It was from the Old Testament. He said to them, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” WOW! Jesus summed all of their laws up in one commandment and He used a part of the Old Testament that they even used to do it. Jesus summed up all of the laws with the only reason for doing anything.... LOVE. The Scribes could not trick Jesus either.

   Now, Jesus turned this around. He asked the Pharisees a question about whose Son Jesus really was. Because of their unbelief, they could not answer Jesus’ question. From this time on none of the Pharisees and religious leaders even dared to ask Jesus a question.

   Jesus then turned to the crowds and began to talk to them about these religious leaders. He told the crowd and His disciples that these men were suppose to be the men that taught the religious law. He told them to listen to the laws they spoke about that God had given them. But, He warned everyone that these arrogant men did not understand God and so not to do what they did. Jesus pointed out a few things that were wrong to do that these men were doing. He talked about how these men thought more of themselves than they did God or other people. They taught their own thoughts and not what the Scriptures actually said. Even though they did speak the law the way it was given by God sometimes, they never did what it said. They paid attention to small things and did not do the big things God asked of them. They fussed over how they looked to other people. They wore flashy long robes with long tassels on them. Tassels were a sign of importance. They also wore leather boxes on their arms and even right up on their foreheads. These boxes had Scripture verses in them. They wanted everyone to think they were the pinnacle of religious example. Jesus warned the people that these men were like graves; they were kept really nice and pretty on the outside, but they were dead on the inside.

   Jesus knew there was no changing these religious leaders minds. They rejected Jesus and that was all there was to it. So, He left them to themselves. This desperately grieved Jesus. He loved these people and wanted them to accept Him, have really good happy lives; and be able to go to Heaven some day and live with Him there. He warned them that they would be left with nothing. Their religion was empty and they were about to lose their temple and everything else. He gives them a look at what was about to happen. He tells them that He would be leaving, but that He would return and they would then know He was the King, but it would be too late.

   Jesus left the temple. His disciples heard Him talking about the temple being destroyed. They asked Him if He saw all the buildings of the temple. He told them what He said would happen, would honestly happen. They went back to the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus about the temple, His return and the end of time. Jesus answered all of the disciples questions. The disciples loved Him and they believed Him. They accepted Him. Jesus was glad to get to teach these men. He talked about the Old Testament and showed them how it was true, that it was coming true right before their eyes. He told them that the Words of God would last forever and ever and would never change or end. The disciples could always count on the things God said to be true. Jesus warned them that there would always be religious pretenders. There would always be people that would try to make them believe their thoughts instead of trusting God’s Word. He warned them that there would always be wars, rumors of wars and earthquakes, and people that would hurt them. He told them that just as the Fig tree has buds that tell you summer is coming, there would be signs that Jesus was coming. He told them to never be afraid. God would always take care of them. He reminded the disciples of what happened in Noah’s day. Those people were partying, sinning big time and ignoring God. But, the faithful family of Noah just kept their eyes on God. They trusted Him and did exactly what He said, even though it seemed quite silly. When the flood came, they were the only family to safely make it through. Everyone else drowned because they would not follow God. Jesus said that if when things look bad and people try to take you away from Jesus you would just keep following Him, and keep watching for Him to come back, their reward would be great. If when He came back they were serving Him, they would rule over much. Jesus told the disciples that no one would know the day or time that He was coming back. Even Jesus did not know. It would be when His Father, God, said it was time. So, we must keep watching for Him and always be ready since we won’t know when it will happen, until it happens.

   Watching does not mean that we just stand and do nothing. There are so many things that God needs for us to do before He sends Jesus back. The more we serve Him, the more God will trust us to do for Him. And, if we are serving Him when He comes back, we get rewarded, big time! If we are lazy and disobedient and do not serve Him, we will lose our reward, not our salvation but our rewards in Heaven. You can rule it all or lose it all, it’s up to you.

   What we have to give and what we are able to do can be used to serve God. When we feed someone, or visit them when they are sick, or give someone clothes that needs clothing, or share a toy with someone, we are doing something for God. God says when we are helping other people we are as much as doing it for Him. When Jesus comes back everyone will be divided into two kinds of people. There will be those that loved and served Jesus, and those that did not. Jesus loved the disciples and He loves us, too. That is why He told us all about these things to come. He wants to be our friend, but we have to let Him.

   This was a very long day for Jesus. Jesus had to deal with so much. But, the evil men that tried and tried and tried to trick Him, could not. After being picked on by the religious leaders all day, He had to walk back to the Mount of Olives. Jesus needed to be alone with His disciples there because He had so many things to tell them. He knew His time was short. Jesus knew that tomorrow something was going to happen that would bring a tragic end to the week.

   Such love! In the midst of knowing these people were going to kill Him, Jesus tries to reach these religious leaders. Such love! He would have done it just for me, or you. Tomorrow the questioning pretty much comes to an end and a horrible turn occurs, one that will lead one man to take his own life out of the depths of the hell of his guilt, and put an innocent lamb to slaughter.

   Thank You Father, You did this out of such everlasting mercy and unconditional love.