Preparing for the Unexpected!

“And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Mark 11:17 (ESV)

According to Mark 11:12-16 on the Monday after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He entered the Temple and began casting out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers. Quite a change from Him riding into Jerusalem on the back of a colt with all the people shouting “… Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10).

On Sunday, everyone loved Jesus and was overjoyed at His fulfilling Old Testament prophecy. The very next day, the Priest and Pharisees were being told that they personally were defiling God’s house, and conflict was in the air. Things were happening very fast, and I’m sure the disciples were thinking, “This is it! Finally, God is going to establish His earthly kingdom now. We as a people have waited so long, and we’ve followed Jesus these three years, and now God is going to free the Jews from Rome and establish His everlasting Kingdom here and now!” But it was not to be.

God was indeed going to do something marvelous, something that would change the course of human history, but it was not going to be the establishment of the Messiah’s earthly reign. These disciples would have to wait for that. But this was their mindset as they entered this “Holy Week”. It would be a gross understatement to say their expectations were high, and there was no way they could have been emotionally prepared for how this week would end.

Put yourself in the mindset of these disciples; can you feel their anticipation of what was to come? Can you feel their excitement and confidence that Jesus is indeed the promised Son of David, the Messiah? 

As we read about this week's events, we are looking back on something that happened over two thousand years ago, so we become quite emotionally detached from the story. But those disciples were there; they were living these events and seeing Jesus demonstrate that He was indeed the promised Messiah. The only thing they got wrong was that Jesus was not coming at this time as the conquering King, but as the suffering servant. They allowed the events that were taking place to overshadow all the teachings of Jesus. Remember, He said, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 

For years, Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the events of His death, burial, and resurrection. But now that the time had come, they couldn’t see past the immediate events in front of them. They were allowing the current circumstances to set their expectations, and they were to be so terribly disappointed by the end of the week, when reality would show them that the promised Messiah was dead, killed by the very leaders that professed to be the spokesmen for God Himself.

Now here we are on Monday after Palm Sunday, and Jesus was finally “in control”, just the way it was supposed to be. But behind the scenes, we see that "the Chief priest and the scribes began seeking to destroy Him.” As we read the events of this Holy Week, we need to remember that God is in control! Even though on Monday, all looked like things were going in favor of Jesus, while He was teaching and traveling freely in and out of Jerusalem, a plot was being developed to destroy Him by the very people that were supposedly representing God.

But this was all part of God’s redemptive plan of salvation, all these events had to happen, nothing caught God by surprise. Sometimes, when we see this world and the events of our lives spinning out of our control, we must remind ourselves that they are not out of God’s control. We need to keep our eyes on our Savior and Him alone.

So, as we continue walking through the events of this Holy Week, please keep in mind the emotions of the disciples, as well as their hopes and expectations. It will help us to understand their reactions when they come face to face with the reality of the cost that Jesus had to pay for securing our eternal lives. 

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"