Day 1 Holy Week

Lesson 1

Day 1 of Holy Week-Sunday

I am praying that as we go through this together, you will think about my questions before continuing to read what came to my mind.  In some instances you may not respond the way I did but this in itself is good because we all see scripture in terms of where we are in our walk with God.  Letting me or someone else know what you thought about the verse or passage is a great way to interact.  Sharing what we think about what we’ve read is one of the ways we grow in our understanding of the Bible.

I want you to start by reading

Luke 19: 28-42

This is the story of Jesus triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Let’s break this text down, shall we!!!

So now that you have read this, did anything in verse 28 jump out at you?

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Vs. 28 tells us that Jesus is walking with his disciples, but the thing that jumps out at me is that he is walking ahead of them.  This struck me because most of the time we see Jesus walking with the disciples and teaching them along the way, or maybe answering their questions from the most recent teaching he shared.

So why do you think that he would be walking ahead of them?

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1 thought --- he wanted to get to the Mount of Olives, his favorite place, where he could talk to the Heavenly Father.

What do you think it is about this place that draws Christ to it?

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Did you imagine it as a quiet and restful place where Jesus could regain his spiritual strength so that he is ready to be overwhelmed on his way into Jerusalem? 

The story goes onto say that he sends 2 disciples on ahead! 

What could be so important that he would separate part of his team?  Do you have any thoughts on that?

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You see Jesus is already preparing for his ride. He has the disciples go and round up a small colt or donkey and bring it back to him. You probably know that this was foretold in Zechariah 9:9

“Rejoice, O people of Zion,

Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!

Look, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious,

yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.”

So why would He ride on a small colt or donkey?  Does that say anything to you or do you just  think that was the way someone would have ridden in His time?

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It might be that the donkey portrays a sense of following. Could it be that there was more than 1 donkey? If it were a donkey’s colt, could the Momma donkey also be with Jesus as he enters the Holy City, the City of God?

Matthew 21:7 New International Version (NIV)

⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

See how we read the same story written by 2 different authors and we have 2 different ways of looking at it!

Matthew tells us that after the disciples chose the colt and brought it to Jesus, they placed their garments on the colt before Jesus rode on it’s back.

Why?

There’s a question.  Why would they put their garments on top of the donkey?  It probably was not the norm.  What do you think the disciples were thinking when they did this?

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These are things that came to my mind:

Maybe for cleanliness!

Maybe because they did not want Jesus to get his garments dirty?

Maybe they wanted him to be treated as a king!

Here are some possible explanations, using some Biblical references, as to why the cloaks were placed on the donkey before Jesus sat on it….

2 Kings 9:3 “They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!".”

These two thoughts were taken from, MacPhail’s Manuscripts…Sermons by The Reverend Bryan MacPhail…

• “What kind of animal is a donkey? Zechariah calls them "a beast of burden"(Zech.9:9). This "beast of burden" points to what kind of king Jesus is.”

AND

• “This is not what Jesus wanted to portray. Instead, Jesus sent a very different message to the multitude when He entered Jerusalem riding on two donkeys. Jesus portrayed a humble, serving king.” (http://www.reformedtheology.ca/matt21.html copied Feb. 23, 2017)

Now the people began shouting and saying all kinds of wonderful things about Jesus:

What do you think the Pharisees and leaders of the people were thinking about Jesus at this point?  What were their reactions like?

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At this point, the Pharisees were getting very scared, for they knew that this worship of Jesus as a King was getting out of hand.

Some of the religious leaders wanted Jesus to get the people to stop what they were doing… and Jesus replied: “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

How does your heart respond to what Jesus said?  Also, what does it mean that the very stones would have to respond?

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Until next week! Ask God to show you how to worship Him freely and openly, or maybe you will need to go for a walk and hear the rocks singing!