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Day 34 - The Beginning of the End

We come to the final week of Lent.  It is Saturday and by the following Friday, Jesus will be hung on the cross, crucified by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish authorities.

The Disciples and followers of Jesus will be in disarray, confused and depressed.  It will become one of those  “what just happened here?”, “I don’t understand”. 

In this final week, let’s take the journey with the disciples and follow the pathway of Jesus that takes us to the cross.

John 12:1-11 1  Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
2  So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
3  Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,
5  “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
6  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7  Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
8  For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
9  When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
10  So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,
11  because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

Passover began on Thursday evening that year, and continued on through the Friday, where at sundown the day shifted to Sabbath.  Six days before, that Saturday, Jesus moves his disciples to Bethany, a village a few miles from Jerusalem and the place where Jesus’ closest friends – Lazarus, Mary and Martha – all lived.  It was here a while before that Jesus had come to raise Lazarus from the grave.

Jesus was already on the Pharisees and Jewish authorities “hit list”.  
John 11:47-48 47  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

This Saturday was not filled with the intensity of any of that though:

·         They gave a dinner for him there.
·         Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
·         Mary took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
·         The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

You can sense the joy-filled atmosphere, yet one filled with a sense of “who knows if we’ll ever be able to do this again”. 
Had Jesus filled them in with what was going on? 
Did they have some prophetic sense of where things we’re going in the next few days?
We don’t know…what we know is that Jesus went to His friend’s house to have a good time and to get ready for the week ahead.

Judas makes a scene…Jesus sets him straight…and the disciples are generally relaxed in the house of Jesus’ friends. 

It’s the same with us.  When we know God is in control, that our lives are hidden in Christ – we can relax, have fun with friends and family…enjoy THIS day and not worry about tomorrow.

Peace

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