The Final Week
In these past few weeks, our study in the Gospel of Mark has brought us to the last week of Jesus’ life. As mentioned in the sermons, the four gospel accounts have more to say about this eight-day period than any other time during His ministry. There is so much to learn from it that we also spend more time here in preaching than on any other of the stories or doctrines of God’s word. This is the centrality of the gospel—the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.
During these last days, Jesus symbolically revealed what would happen to Israel after they crucified Him. There were the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple. The entire system of Jewish worship would crumble and cease as it must because of the fulfillment of the law by Christ’s death on the cross. This also resulted in the eventual scattering of the nation that we still see today. It will not change until Christ returns to restore Israel and fulfill the Old Testament promises of the Kingdom. At this time, Jews from around the world will stream back into Israel and once again unite to the tribes of their ancestry. While Israel will have prominence in the Kingdom, this does not dimmish the role of the Gentile nations. Our Lord promised that you and I who are united to Him by faith will have our part as well. Some criticize our belief in the Jewish aspect of the Kingdom as if God ignores the rest of the world. Clearly the word tells us that all will come and worship before the throne and we will rule and reign with Christ.
Jesus also used this time to perfect the disciples’ understanding of their role after He ascended back to the Father. He told these eleven men about the coming of the Holy Spirit who would be His presence in them and would give them power and courage they were presently lacking to carry the gospel to the world. Fifty days after the crucifixion, God sent His Spirit which resulted in the salvation of 3000 souls who were formerly those guilty of crucifying the Christ. In only weeks, a band of 120 believers had grown to a church of more than 20,000. This was the seed of the gospel church that soon scattered across the entirety of the Roman Empire.
I think it interesting that three years of Jesus’ ministry did not accomplish what the next week would. First, the Jews must despise Him and reject Him, humiliate and murder Him. It seems an impossible result when He harmed no one and did so much good for thousands. For three years, He took care of physical needs with only a miniscule number turning to Him in faith. This was the plan for there must be an overwhelming consensus against Him to get Him to the cross. From Sunday and a mob trying to crown Him king to Wednesday and a mob determined to kill Him is more than remarkable. The resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit would be the factors that reversed the mindset of those 3000 on Pentecost who asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
The answer to this question has not changed in the 2000 years since the last week of Jesus’ life. In a sense, none of us would have voted to spare Jesus His passion. Still today, it takes the arrival of the Holy Spirit to change our minds and open our understanding to the purpose of these events in the far distant past. Each week we lay the groundwork the Holy Spirit uses to change hearts and minds about Christ. Our work is as essential as done by the eleven men Jesus taught during His last week. Do you feel the responsibility? Stay in the word and let the Spirit speak to you until you do.
Pastor V. Mark Smith