in this video we will talk about the last week of Jesus's life because in the synoptic Gospels it's the last week of its life that we have the most material on remember Jesus is the Greek word for God saves it's a translation of the Hebrew word Joshua which also means God saves the evangelists are the Evangel ons the synoptic writers have been telling us the good news that the Messiah has come we have very little about Jesus's early life but I would like to do today is start with a week out before Easter on Palm Sunday Jesus has finally told his disciples his learners that he's going to go into Jerusalem the capital city and pronounce himself Messiah it was a well-timed week because it's the week of Passover remember we talked about that when we talked about the Psalms that once a year the whole country of Israel went up to Jerusalem for this special annual feast so the city would be packed full and the disciples say this is great finally Jesus is gonna reveal himself as the Messiah home base for the week will be a little village of Bethany bridge Jesus has been staying with Mary and Martha and Lazarus it's about a mile and a half away from Jerusalem so on Palm Sunday the disciples act like evangelist they go ahead and they get the people out and staged a parade people throw their palm branches on the road they throw down their ropes because the Messiah is coming but remember that antithesis I was talking to you about that kind of energizes all the Gospels here we see it again on Palm Sunday geez doesn't come into town on a white horse as any political military leader or hero would have done he comes into town on a donkey or afoul of a mere a colorless drab domesticated Servicing animal and they're disappointed further we're told that Jesus doesn't come into town on the main road through the main gate but he comes by the other way the Sheep gate let's unpack that for just a second because it's an important brushstroke because people were coming to Jerusalem for Passover they would have to prepare a sacrifice but when you're climbing up a mountain for three days how do you take a sheep with you without having it get bloodied or unclean or dirtied such that you couldn't sacrifice it properly in the temple when the time of the feast came so what the temple authorities said was hey guys just leave your sheep at home and when you get to Jerusalem we'll sell you your sacrifice well guess what happened to the price of sheep being sold in the temple during the week of Passover its skyrocketed um some scholars make up to thirty shekels of silver incidentally remember that number in that price and secondly what happened to people when they traveled to Jerusalem they got to the temple to go buy they're over priced sheep they would give him their shekels and the temple changers would go oh but these shekels are from Nazareth those aren't good here in Jerusalem you first need to go change your Nazareth Jekyll's to Jerusalem chuckles well guess what happened in that exchange they extorted the money Terry exchanged first and then you had to buy this overpriced sheep we'll get to that tomorrow because Jesus will see that and confront it but the reason I tell you that now on poems one day is that when the priest received their shipment of sheep that would be sacrificed they didn't receive that shipment through the main street of the city would have been a mess it would have been noisy people could have stole her sheep instead they received the sheep that they would use for sacrifice through the sheep gate so Jesus coming in through the Sheep gate has huge symbolic importance because he will be the perfect lamb sacrificed on Friday that Sunday Jesus goes back to Bethany home base on Monday confrontation day he comes back to the temple and confronts that whole rack and I told you about he flips over the moneychangers temples up tables he said you guys have turned my father's house into a den of thieves he says this whole place is like whitewashed Sepulcher Sepulcher is a fancy name for a tune on the outside it's all this pretty white marble on the inside is just decaying rotting flesh he's not making friends and influencing people on Tuesday I know different Gospels will put this at different places in the week and with different characters but for this lecture let's just put the next event on Tuesday at the home of Mary Martha and Lazarus Martha is maybe the only character who understands what Jesus is doing this week and she says hey guys we've got to get a gift together and so she rounds up enough money from the community to buy a bottle of pure nard and presents it to Jesus in an alabaster jar very expensive gift today about twenty thousand dollars but then she purposefully dumps it on Jesus's feet and the learners the disciples go berserk especially the treasurer Judas this is Martha this was dumb think what we could have done with all that money instead you just wasted it and Jesus says you'd leave her alone she's done a beautiful thing the poor you will always have with you me you only got this once and I like to think what's so beautiful about that gift pure nard by the way it's very potent in its smell that was used for burial because it could even mask the smell of death I think it's beautiful because maybe just maybe when Jesus went to the cross on Friday he was denuded robbed of his dignity his clothes his everything took nothing with him to the cross save perhaps the smell of pure nard Wednesday Jesus leaves again from Bethany his home base to go back to the temple it's teaching day the other priests and teachers the rabbi's are getting not a little jealous of Jesus because he's teaching his one who had Authority and all the people were going to him during this Passover time now that the city's giving even more packed with visitors and so the priests said we need to publicly humiliate him let's test out this new rabbi so they asked him a question hey Jesus if you're so smart of all the law and remember there were 614 Old Testament laws what's the greatest see why that's a setup pick any one law of 614 and you could come back with what about 613 others Jesus takes the bait and he says I'll tell you what the greatest law is the greatest law is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart soul mind and strength notice that that's a vertical comma and a second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself horizontal love God look up look aside and love your neighbor and then he said all the law hangs on these two and I'll let you ponder that image in that very beautiful word choice of Jesus they're stunned but now Jesus has to say one more sentence that gets any more trouble and then he says and by the way that loving God and loving your neighbor it's more important than all your sacrifices well now they've had it because Jesus is just already demolished the sacrificial system with the temple on Monday now he's kind of publicly saying his whole thing's a racket it's good for nothing and he says he's a rabbi so the priests of the temple said we got to shut this down especially on the eve of Passover and they go to work Thursday is the actual day of Passover now I'm going to tell you how Passover should have gone and then I'll tell you how Jesus changed it up to see why it was so scandalous Passover should have gone that what they did is they said when you come to town everybody you need to encamp with your people it's like a big family reunion so all the Smiths over here circle your tents and your wagons and all the angles over here and circle your tents and wagons because you celebrated Passover feast with your family Passover was a meal that reenacted for them the events of leaving Egypt and their salvation back to the promised land so you'd gather with your family you'd have this meal it was centered around for a column toasts the first toast they raised their glass and they say we are Israel let's drink to that and to remind them of their beginning of slavery and distress in Egypt and their tears they'll serve bitter herbs and salt water kind of as an advertiser and then they said but we were delivered and we were delivered by the blood of the Lamb and here the Lamb that was sacrificed in the temple would be served the other kata style the leaders made during Passover is that you can't have 4 million people going to the temple the size of a you know maybe 4 tennis courts side-by-side so 4 million people with sheep and knives and blood so what they said is from each of those camps those families just send the eldest dad the patriarch and his eldest son they come they can sacrifice the lamb the priest would sacrifice it kill it by bleeding at the blood altar burn some of its flesh the priest was Alea allowed to keep some that's how they lived at the temple and then the rest of the land was taken back and those then in your camp could participate vicariously as though they had gone in the temple so that lamb now was served and then the next cup was and remember that we were led to a land of milk and honey and so dessert was served you might guess milk and honey and cream and sweet beautiful stuff to remind them of the land they were brought to and the final cup and here's to the day when all of Israel will be gathered back in the city with the Messiah never have to leave again and after dinner the men would go outside and pray ok now what did Jesus do Jesus totally changed it up the first thing is so big and so obviously everybody misses it he should have gone to the camp of the house of David and his father Joseph instead he rounds up his learner's and rents a room as if to say their bond is something other than blood and then they get to that room happens to be on a second floor which is why it's called the upper room and the learners because they know they're going to have a dinner they're walking around in togas and sandals they didn't eat at dinner tables remember they ate on the floor around it robbed us washed your feet that was very polite thing to do feet were unclean and you might literally have your feet in your neighbor's face when you're reclining at a low table or a rug feet were untouchable so you had servants deduct but when the disciples came it was Jesus a rabbi who condescended to wash their feet and then he said and I give you a command I command you to serve into love as you're seeing me serve and love in Latin the word command is men dot tomb which is why Christians call this Maundy Thursday the day Jesus gave a command according to Matthew then they follow the Passover meal called a seder they had the first cup they get to the second cup but the learners look around and there is no sacrifice lamb they're in their confusion Jesus instead takes bread and says this is my body which will be broken for you do it remembrance of me and then he takes that company says and this cup is a new covenant in my blood do this in remembrance of me what is Jesus saying of course he's saying that he is the Lamb that will be sacrificed which implies he is the one who forget can't forgive sins which implies that he is the Messiah and when they get to the last Cup Jesus says and I were not raising the last Cup because my work isn't finished but I promise you that someday when my work is finished and my whole kingdom is gathered in the new heavens and the new earth the van will raise that last Cup which instantly why is so significant that the Bible ends then of course with this picture of a heavenly banquet where Jesus raises that last copy with all the redeemed the disciples then following custom after the meal go out to pray they go to the Garden of Gethsemane the priests who are upset with jesus's action the whole week now have arranged with the treasurer that this would be a good way and time could grab Jesus to take him for trial charges are heresy he's not respecting any of the laws in either traditions and he's claiming to be God who can forgive sins they come a product across Jesus and his learners in the garden the treasurer Judas points Jesus out by giving them a kiss and Jesus is taken away to something called the Sanhedrin the Sanhedrin is if you will the little executive committee of the temple for lack of a better word the little Council and it's chaired by a guy named Caiaphas and they put Jesus up on these charges of heresy they find him guilty and according to the Old Testament the charges of heresy a blasphemy against God is death but there are religious officials they can't impose the sentence so all they can do is go to the government and ask them to impose the sentence just like we would today if any religious community has a member who has transgressed somehow in the law they can't set up an electric chair in the parking lot and execute people right we would have to take them to a civic trial and say to the government we have a guilty person you need to take it from here well this is exactly what the Sanhedrin did they were wise they waited till now Friday they didn't wake the governor up in the middle of the night but they come to Pontius Pilate in the morning of Friday now and they say we found this guy guilty we want you to carry out our sentence which was execution and by the way it happens to be Friday a day when wrong ordinarily takes care of all of its criminals at noon Pontius Pilate looks at this rabbi and his town full of four million Jews and he says to himself I don't want to start killing Jews they could riot and I don't got the Roman guard enough to contain a riot of he says go away I don't want this and they won't go away they say we want you to crucify this guy Pilate then remembers another ace in his pocket that the governor had during Passover and that is in order to keep those four million Jews relatively quiet and happy while the nervous Romans are outnumbered every year at Passover the governor in a kind of a nice some token would say to the people do you know how you're in here at Passover remembering how you were slaves but God freed you we did that and to kind of celebrate that with you every year I can take a Jewish criminal and I will and release him that'll make you happy it reenacts what you're doing here it lets you know that you that we understand what you're doing and it keeps everybody sort of happy with Rome so Pilate says aha go get me the most hardened criminal in jail right now we're gonna play this card they bring him Barabbas a known killer and he said surely they would rather have a rabbi go then a known killer called and be amongst them again if the crowd doesn't relent they say release Barabbas and now Pilate has painted himself in a corner he literally washes his hands of it says that famous line what is truth he releases Barabbas and says to Jesus and the guards take him away we're pretty sure that originally in Old English this day was called God Friday because of what will happen next but later it was kind of corrupted to the word good which in a way kind of makes sense too because we're a Christian now what Jesus will do was good for our Redemption the Romans take him away and they execute Jesus in the Roman manner of crucifixion the criminal would take just the crossbeam of the cross from Jerusalem to the hill outside of the walls the poles were already set in the ground the hands were nailed to the cross beam and they were hoisted up onto the poles and if that were done alone death would come rather quickly by asphyxiation and bleeding Rome didn't want that they wanted their death to be humiliating and drugged out as torture so they put a little platform where the feet could sustain the weight of the criminal to prolong death and you're thinking well if I was a criminal then I would kick my feet out get it over with no because what Rome did that's why they nailed also the feet onto that little platform to make the death Hennis and long and torturous we're told that by 3:00 in the afternoon Jesus was already dead we know this because by 3:00 in the afternoon the Romans are looking at their watch going it's gonna be sunset in the end of my workweek and I want to get home so what they would do then is walk around with an iron pipe and and break the kneecaps so people would collapse and die and it could be done with their job for the day they went to Jesus he was already dead but to double check they spirited men aside we're told that the sky went dark there was an earthquake and that four finger thick curtain in the temple torn - just a second about that remember that temple curtain hid from people the presence of God as symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant outside of the temple courts people were making sacrifice after sacrifice to appease God they never saw God's holiness because nobody could ever make a perfect sacrifice when Jesus died that temple curtain was torn in two and everybody saw the holiness of God and if you will the holiness of God pulled out to the whole world and a Christian would say that's because the final perfect sacrifice was finally made in Jesus it's 3:00 in the afternoon the bodies were always given over to the women of the family to put that so they could prepare for burial criminals would have been buried in the ground but there was a man there Joseph of Arimathea not Joseph of Nazareth Jesus is dead but Joseph of Arimathea we're told he was a rich man not because Jesus just likes rich people but because that tells us what kind of grave then he offered to the women he said look it's almost dark why don't you let Jesus I have a new grave and because he was a rich man we know that he wasn't buried in the earth he was buried in a tomb in a mountain the women take Jesus there and because the Jewish Sabbath Saturday begins at sunset the night before one of those 614 Old Testament law says you can't touch dead bodies on the holy Sabbath day so the Jewish women said we have just enough time to get Jesus into the tomb and we'll come back on the first day of the week our Sunday when we can finish the job and it won't be unlawful for us to touch a dead body so they put Jesus in the tomb they wrap him in linen and they say we'll come back the Jew says you'd better roll a large stone in front of it and seal it and put two guards because we know what they're gonna do they're gonna steal that body and say he was resurrected from the dead like he predicted so they put the stone there the two guards it's sunset now it's Saturday the Jewish Sabbath you'll love this what happens on Saturday absolutely nothing because it's the Jewish Sabbath any questions and just as the Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset the night before it ends at sunrise of the next day so now Sunday at sunrise the women go back to the tomb to finish the job of preparing Jesus for burial you might know that morning as Easter morning and that's what we'll pick it up at the next lecture I know this has been a lot of material so you do very well to slowly review each day of the week again and as you do remember to place names like Caiaphas and Barabbas Judas Pontius Pilate Joseph of Arimathea Martha Mary Lazarus and then remember ideas like the Sheep gate how the Passover Feast was supposed to go but how Jesus did it remember the thirty shekels of silver the cost of a sheep what had inflated to that day and by the way what the Sanhedrin paid Judas as his price of betrayal remember the curtain and why it was torn in two remember what is a rabbi means 614 Old Testament laws the alabaster jar of nard the donkey not the white horse Bethany was the hometown okay I know that's a lot of material this is the center point of the whole course of course about Jesus so you might want to review this lecture in all those terms and your handout and I'll see you next to talk about Easter the first day of the week what happens next