Just a few days before Passover and the subsequent weekly celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and scribes were looking for a quiet, stealthy opportunity to arrest and kill Jesus. They didn’t want to do it in front of the huge crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the feasts because they feared a riot.

At a dinner in honour of Jesus, at Simon the leper’s house, Mary (John 12:3) poured some very expensive perfume over Jesus’ head. There were some there who muttered amongst themselves that her act was wasteful. The perfume could have been sold for a year’s worth of wages and the money given to the poor. They rebuked her for her wastefulness. Jesus stepped in and told them to leave her alone because what she had done was a beautiful thing. Jesus pointed out that the poor would always be there and they would always need looking after—which we should do. But their time with Jesus was very quickly coming to an end and their opportunity to serve Him physically was drawing to a close. What Mary had done was anoint His body for burial and her actions would be remembered for as long as the gospel is preached. Mary gave up something costly and precious as an act of love and worship. I’m not sure that her choice was between Jesus and the poor. In reality, her choice was between giving it up for Jesus and keeping it for herself. That is usually our choice too. Will we readily give up what we have for Jesus or not?

Contrast that with Judas who went to the chief priests and offered to betray Jesus to them. They were glad because now they had someone on the inside who could help them arrest Jesus away from the crowds. They promised him money. While Mary gave up something costly for Jesus in worship, Judas was driven by greed and a love of money (1 Tim 6:10) to be the final catalyst in Jesus’ death.

At the end of the tribulation period, it will be unmistakable when Jesus returns. There will be cosmic disturbances and Jesus will return with celestial fanfare, coming on the clouds. He will gather the Jews from all over the world. Jesus pointed to the fig tree which loses its leaves in winter and by its buds you can tell summer is near. All the signs Jesus spoke of would be indicators that these things would happen. There seems to be a double prophecy mixed into what Jesus is saying. This generation could refer to the people Jesus was speaking to who would experience some of this in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. This generation could also refer to the generation of Jews, the elect, who will be alive during the time of the tribulation and will endure through to the end. Clearly, Jesus did not return in His glory and so there is still the future aspect we wait for. Jesus added the certainty that even though the current heavens and earth will pass away, His words are certain.

But when will this happen? Even though there are predictors which Jesus pointed out, no one knows when these events will take place. Even Jesus, in His veiled humanity, was not privy to that information while on earth. We are all to be on guard and stay awake because we do not know when Jesus will return. The events that indicate Christ’s return are all linked to the tribulation, the rapture of believers will happen before that—without warning—so we too need to be awake and alert to His return. Are you living your life in light of eternity? Are you ready for Jesus to return today? If He does, will He commend you for your life lived for Him? If you’re not sure of that, what one thing can you change today?

In the middle of the tribulation period, the abomination of desolation will occur. The antichrist who will have made a covenant with the Jewish people will break that covenant, stop temple sacrifices and desecrate the temple as he proclaims himself to be God. At this time the persecution of the Jews will become so severe that they will need to flee so quickly that they shouldn’t try to take anything with them, just run. Jesus shows concern for the women who are pregnant or nursing at that time because fleeing will be difficult. He also tells them to pray that it doesn’t happen in winter because the conditions will also make it difficult to flee. The conditions they will face will be so severe it will rival anything that has preceded it since the creation of the world. Thankfully God has already determined to keep that time short for the sake of the elect, His chosen people, Israel so that they can endure to the end. If God had not determined to keep that time short, all would die. During that time people will be desperate for deliverance that they will be more susceptible to the deception of false prophets and false Christs who will try to lead them astray. That is why Jesus gave this warning.

When times of trouble and strife arise, we tend to be more susceptible to being led astray. It is important that we fill our minds with God’s word so we can avoid error when we so desperately need the solid foundation of God’s truth.

As they came out of the temple, one of the disciples pointed out the magnificence of the temple buildings to Jesus. The temple of Jesus’ time was built by Herod and was considered one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world, spanning one-sixth of the land area of Jerusalem. The Jews were very proud of their temple but Jesus warned them that shortly not one of those magnificent stones would still be on another. The temple was only fully completed in AD 64 and was completely destroyed in AD 70.

When they sat on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, and John asked Jesus about the coming of the Messianic kingdom. From their Old Testament perspective, they didn’t know of God’s plan for the church which would bring a long time between Jesus’ death and resurrection and His return to bring in the Messianic kingdom. Jesus spoke about events that would indicate the imminence of His second coming. Many of these things like wars, nation against nation, earthquakes and famines are true today and may be part of the birth pains Jesus was speaking about. But those things will be more severe during the time of the tribulation which will happen right before Jesus comes again. During that time there will be great persecution for the Jews and some will die. Those who endure, those who make it through this troublesome time, will be saved—not for eternal life (that is by belief in Jesus alone)—but saved from death and survive into the Messianic kingdom. Jesus’ main point is that in all of this, no matter what is happening around us, we must continue to minister for Him. Let us not be hindered by the events around us, or what happens to us, from spreading the gospel.

A scribe came up and heard the discussions Jesus was having and saw that He answered them well. His question to Jesus did not seem like he was trying to trick Jesus, but was looking with a genuine search for the truth. He asked Jesus what is the most important commandment. Jesus replied that the most important was to love God with all you are (Deut 6:4-5) and then added a second, you should love those around you as you love yourself (Lev 19:18). If we focus on loving God with everything we are, then we will gain the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5-8) and naturally grow to love and serve those around us. When we love those around us we will be slow to anger and quick to forgive.

The Jewish teachers correctly taught that the Messiah would be the son of David, a ruler who would sit on David’s throne and deliver Israel. But their teaching was incomplete. The Messiah would also be David’s Lord as David himself had said in Psalm 110:1. For the Messiah to be both David’s son and his Lord means He must be both man and God. The Messiah was not just going to be a political deliverer. Jesus came first and foremost to save us from our spiritual bondage.

Jesus warned the crowds of the scribes hypocrisy. They enjoyed all the perks of their office and made elaborate shows of religion while exploiting the poor. Jesus warned that teachers like these will be punished most severely.

Jesus sat down where people were giving their offerings at the temple and watched many rich people put in large sums of money. When a poor widow put in just two small coins, Jesus pointed out her enormous generosity. While the rich had given just some of their abundance, she had given all of what little she had. Proportionately she had given the most. The widow completely entrusted herself to God to provide for her needs? How does your wealth limit your dependence on, or commitment to, God?

Having just questioned His authority, Jesus responds with a parable about the Jewish leaders’ authority. He tells a story about a rich man who prepares a wonderful vineyard with all the trimmings to help it produce a great harvest. Then he leases it out to farmers and leaves for another country. At the time of the harvest, he sends a servant to come and collect his share of the crop (as rent). But the tenants beat him and send him away. The next servant is beaten and the third one sent is killed. Others were also sent and they too were beaten or killed. This parable is about Israel, God, and the Jewish leaders. It is based on a passage prophesying God’s judgement in Isaiah 5:1-7. The servants are the prophets who have been sent to collect the fruit of repentance and righteousness from Israel but they were all rejected, the last being John the Baptist. Finally, the rich man decides to send his beloved son expecting them to honour him above all the servants sent before him. But they choose to kill the son believing they can have the vineyard for themselves. Jesus asks them rhetorically, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?” He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Jesus then changes metaphor to a stone that was rejected but that God restores and makes the cornerstone, the most important stone of a building (Psalm 118:22-23). Jesus would be killed by the Jewish leaders, but God would raise Him and begin to build something new, the church to replace Israel as His next mode of reaching the world. (But God was not, and is not done with Israel). The leaders realised that the parable was speaking against them so they sought to arrest Jesus but didn’t because they feared the people.

The Jewish leaders were judged because they didn’t do what God had appointed them to do—lead Israel in righteousness. God has called you personally to yield fruit for Him (John 15:1-27). Is your life producing the fruit God wants from you or could an adjusted version of this parable be spoken against you?

The Jewish leaders were actively trying to trap Jesus. They asked Him questions to try and build a case against Him. They asked Him if it was in accordance with God’s law to pay taxes to Caesar or not. They were trying to trap him between the religious (yes to pay taxes to a pagan ruler) and the political (no and invite retaliation from Rome). The question was cleverly created to give Jesus no possibility of a right answer. Jesus recognised their intentions and called them on it, “why put me to the test?” He asked for a Roman coin and asked whose image was on the coin. They answered, “Caesar’s.” Jesus told them to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s meaning to pay the tax as owed for the benefits they received of the use of the money and the government system they lived under. But Jesus added that they must give back to God what is God’s. Ultimately our allegiance is to God and we owe Him everything because we are his (we are His image-bearers).

The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in the resurrection, came to Jesus and presented Him with a question designed to show that the resurrection didn’t make sense. The Law of Moses had a section known as Levirate marriage designed to preserve the family inheritance. They presented a hypothetical situation where the eldest of seven brothers married and then died childless. Each subsequent brother married the woman in order to give her a child according to the law but they all died childless. Finally, the woman died. The conundrum they present to Jesus was, who would she be married to in the resurrection because they were all married to her? Jesus pointed out that they are wrong because, while they knew the content of the Scriptures, they did not understand them and they hadn’t fully recognised the power of God (over death). The fault in their entire argument was the misunderstanding that marriage is an earthly arrangement needed to grow and preserve the human race. In heaven, there will be no marriage. Instead, we will all be like angels—immortal and in the presence of God. When God spoke to Moses He said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God used terms that indicated the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still in a relationship with Him even though they had died many years before—they had not simply ceased to exist.
We too can misunderstand Scripture if we approach it with preconceived ideas. We must read Scripture with humility, looking for God’s truth, and expecting the Holy Spirit to reveal that truth to us. If we start with a fixed view then we will find ways to enforce our false view even using Scripture to justify that view as the Sadducees did.

The whole Jewish leadership came to Jesus and asked Him by what authority He was doing what He was doing (overturning the tables and teaching in the temple). Jesus asks them a question in return that would help them with an answer to their own question if they were willing to answer it honestly. He asks where John the Baptist’s authority to baptise came from, was it from heaven or from man. They immediately recognise the dilemma they face. If they answer that it is from heaven, then why did they not believe him. It was John the Baptist who prophesied that Jesus would come after him, One far more worthy and One who would baptise with the Holy Spirit. If they answered that John’s baptism was from man, then they would lose favour with the people who believed that John was a prophet. They declined to answer saying, “we do not know.” Because of that, Jesus refused to continue the debate and give them anything to use against Him in their quest to kill Him.

Often we have conflict on how to act because we’re not truly prepared to take God’s word as it is. We don’t really want God to mean what He has said. We’re secretly hooping for some loophole that gives us an out to act like we want to. In what area do you need to just do what God has told you to do?

The next day as they headed back into Jerusalem, Jesus became hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves and went to see if He could find anything to eat. When He got to it, He found nothing but leaves because it was not the season for figs. Jesus’ apparent curse of the tree for not having fruit seems harsh, especially as Mark mentions it was not the season for figs. At the time of Passover, the fig trees would produce small buds, an early-season fruit, that came with the leaves and peasants would eat these buds. Eventually, those buds fell off and the normal figs formed and ripened a few months later. A fig tree with large leaves and no early season buds would not produce fruit later in the season. Jesus used the fig tree as a metaphor for God’s impending judgement on Israel. The nation looked promising because of their outward appearance of religion but they were nothing but leaves, there was no spiritual fruit being produced. The next day when they returned to Jerusalem again, they passed the fig tree and Peter pointed out that it had completely withered. Jesus teaches them to have faith that God can do what is utterly impossible to man. They believed that the kingdom was going to be ushered immediately but because of Israel’s lack of faith, it would be delayed. They would need great faith, as do we, to wait for the kingdom to come. When we live God’s way and align ourselves with God’s will, then we can go to God in prayer and know that He will answer us and live in the knowledge that He answers our prayers. Part of living God’s way is to ensure that we keep our relationships with God and man healthy by continually asking for forgiveness and forgiving.
If your life was compared to a fig tree, how would it look? Lot’s of leaves with no fruit, buds showing the fruit is growing, or a full crop of fruit as you faithfully live for God?

When Jesus came to Jerusalem, He entered the temple and drove out those who were using it as a market to sell ritually pure items needed for temple sacrifice as well as money changers who converted Roman and Greek money for the local Jewish money. These transactions were not free from extortion and fraud. Jesus overturned their trading tables and chased them out of the temple area. There was disregard for the holiness of the temple. It had become a common thoroughfare. Jesus taught them about God’s intended purpose for the temple and contrasted it with how they had profaned it as a place where dishonourable trade could take place. The chief priests and scribes heard about this and set out to destroy Jesus. They were afraid of Him because the crowds were drawn to His teaching. When evening came, Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem again.
Have you allowed any of your ideas about God to become “common”? Do you need a reminder that God is transcendent, holy and completely different to us, His creation.

As they drew near to Jerusalem, as they got to the mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples ahead to get a donkey colt. He told them where to find it and what would happen when they got it. He told them to say that the Lord has need of it and everything happened as He said it would. This is another glimpse into Jesus’ omniscience, His knowledge of things in the future and away from His presence that only God would know.

When they brought the colt to Jesus, they threw their cloaks on it and He sat on it. Then those with Him spread their cloaks on the road and others cut and spread leafy branches creating a “red carpet” for the coming King. They shouted “Hosanna!” (the word originally meant, “O save us now,” but grew into a shout of praise, like “Hallelujah” both meanings were appropriate at this event). Their chants came from Psalm 118:25-26 which was part of the Passover celebration. The crowds were more likely caught up in the Passover celebration and hopeful for a king who would free them from the oppression of Rome and rule over them. They did not realise that Jesus, peacefully riding on a colt was their Messiah (Zech 9:9).

When He entered Jerusalem, Jesus went and surveyed the temple to see if it was being used as His Father intended but because it was the evening and time for the city gates to close, He returned to Bethany with His disciples.

Sometimes we can develop a picture of Jesus (and God), like the crowd, based on what we want Him to be rather than on who He is. We are to be moulded to His image, not He to ours (2 Cor 3:18).