At my church, we celebrate the Passover together during Holy Week, remembering Jesus' Last Supper. The Passover was a celebration of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites, and God’s faithful promises were ultimately fulfilled through Christ! The Last Supper is especially significant because, when celebrating the Passover with His disciples, Jesus used the elements of bread and wine to symbolize something greater: his body and blood. The Last Supper was the first communion!
On Wednesday, we remember how Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. He negotiated with the Sanhedrin, the rabbinical court of ancient Israel, to turn Jesus over to them. How could one of Jesus's closest friends betray him? He had traveled with him, followed his footsteps, sat under his teachings, stayed up late talking in the night. Could he really turn his back on him like this?
Monday dawns, and Jesus begins His week by entering the temple to heal and teach, but what He finds there is unsavory to say the least. People are buying and selling, money changers are collecting (and probably swindling…that’s an assumption, but probably a safe one). Bottom line the temple is being used to turn a quick profit rather than to turn hearts’ to worship.
