Meditations on Easter: 5 Steps to take this week leading up to Good Friday

Pastor Art Snow • April 11, 2022

Meditations on Easter: 5 Steps to take this week leading up to Good Friday

On that Monday of Passion week the 12 disciples had no idea what lay ahead of them. You know what that is like when you leave your house in the morning, you can’t anticipate the 18 wheeler jackknifed on the highway, or the failure of your electronic key to unlock the door at your office. Who knew that there was a data breech in the middle of the night and your entire computer had been blanked out. You drive out of your driveway and the day feels like an unknown mystery before you. 

As the 12 shook the drowsiness from their eyes they could hardly believe what Jesus was doing. They were only a short way on the road from Bethany when the Master turned his attention to an unfortunate fig tree, that he was cursing. It was not the season for figs so why was Jesus cursing this poor plant? Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing and every move was intentional and instructive in some way. Ah yes the problem was that the fig tree had leaves on it indicating there would also be accompanying fruit. You know that old trick of “false advertising” the Pharisees were so well known for. It’s like going into a shoe store with 20 kinds of sneakers in the window but none in the store. A tree with no fruit, a worthless tree.

Next they would make their way into the holiest site in all of the nation, in fact in the world, The Temple. Alfred Edersheim in his classic work entitled The Temple and its ministry and services as they were at the time of Christ, says this about the Temple;

“Assuredly, when the Rabbis thought of their city in her glory, they might well say; ’The world is like unto an eye. The ocean surrounding the world is the white of the eye; its black is the world itself; the pupil is Jerusalem; but the image within the pupil, is the Sanctuary (Temple).” 

Here Jesus would cleanse the temple of those who professed life with God, but only trafficked in false advertising. 

The Tuesday of Passion Week was power packed. Jesus taught them about the kind of faith that could move mountains. He then set them straight on who is welcome at the wedding feast and who wasn’t. He flipped the script of the Pharisees when they tried to trick him on paying taxes or not. He exalts a widow for sowing her mite into the treasury and warned of the coming calamity to the Holy City. But the thing that stood out to Peter was the parable of the ten virgins. Five were foolish and did not have enough oil in their lamps and five were wise and had stored up enough oil for the journey. Peter understood the oil to represent the Holy Spirit, ah yes tuck that lesson away for the future where he knows it will be needed. 

Wednesday of Passion Week was the beginning of tragedy. Jesus announced to His disciples that He would soon be handed over to both the Jews and the Romans and crucified. During this intense conversation, no one noticed Judas slipping out of the room snaking his way through the dark alleys to strike a deal for 30 pieces of silver. Blood money, for his betrayal. He would eventually feel sorrow for the coins jingling in his purse, but it would be too late. Betrayal comes in all shapes and sizes, as most of us know all too well. 

The Thursday of Passion week was filled with supernatural mystery for two of His disciples. It was the first day of Unleavened Bread and it was time to prepare for the Passover meal. The natural question was where would they break bread, they had no headquarters in Jerusalem, no hotel reservations had been made, it seemed like everything had been put off to the last minute. 

Now Peter and John were about to learn the lesson of trusting Jesus. He instructed them go into the city and find a person carrying a pitcher of water, follow them into his house and tell him “the master has need of your house to eat the Passover with His disciples.” I can only imagine the conversation between these two followers of Jesus, sounds incredulous but that is what He said…..and so they traveled on. Trust and obedience two great Kingdom lessons. 

And it was now that fateful first Good Friday, the beginning of sorrows the day the world would fall apart in the life of these 12 men. They had eaten the Passover meal, they had prayed in the garden, the soldiers invaded their prayers and dragged Jesus away. It was now time for satan to “bruise his heel”. If the 12 had understood the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 know as the Great Proto-Evengelum (the first form of the Gospel), they would have had insight into the tragic events of the next sorrow filled hours. 

Both the Jewish and Roman trials were a hoax, the fix was in and Jesus was dragged away to the cross. There he would utter 7 things; Father forgive them; for they know not what they do, Today you shall be with me in Paradise,Woman behold they son, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, I thirst, It is finished, and Father into Thy hands I commit my spirit.

It is Friday but Sunday is coming, His heel is bruised, but soon satan’s head would be crushed. Hope in the darkness, when you have Jesus you always have HOPE in the darkness. 

So this Holy Week learn the lesson of that first Holy Week: 

Always live authentic, and never falsely advertise like the Pharisees

Always keep a good supply of the Holy Spirit in your life

Remember betrayal comes in all shapes and sizes, stay true to Jesus

Trust and obey

Remember as long as Jesus is in the equation there is HOPE. 

Enjoy Holy Week !

Pastor Art Snow | April 11, 2022

Edited and Adapted for Web Use by: Eric Muñoz Jr.