Monday

Today’s Verses:  Mark 11:12-19; John 12:20-36a

One Week to Live

“And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him” (Luke 21:38).

One of my favorite Christian writers is Chuck Swindoll whose many books and radio broadcasts always challenge me to be a better Christian and help me to meditate on God’s Word.  His recent publication, a pictorial journey through the Passion Week, challenges me once again as I reflect on those things that are or should be most important to me.  Here is one of the readings from the book for Monday:

If you knew that you had just one more week to live, how would you spend it?  If on a Monday you knew by Saturday night your body would be in a box and your soul would have exited the earth, what difference would it make in what you did in the next five days?

This was a question that Jesus had to answer.  Like no one else, He knew that this was His last week, and so He spent His time in two areas that He considered to be of paramount importance.

In this final week, Jesus was tethered to the temple.  He lingered inside its walls every day, jealous for its purity and protective of what went on in its courts.  He spent His final days teaching, defending eternal truth, exposing error, and inspiring faith.

In this final week, Jesus also demonstrated His priority for the ones He loved to the uttermost, His disciples.  He wrapped Himself in humility and served them.  He washed their feet.  He talked and walked with them.  He gave them instruction they would need to carry on without Him.  He listened and received love from these ones who would feel the immediate sting of His death more than any others.

Jesus lived His final week under the crushing weight that His time had come.  His long-anticipated sacrifice was imminent, so these final minutes were precious and few.

The countdown had begun. (2)

Questions to think about:

*If you knew that you had just one more week to live, how would you spend it?

*If you were one of the disciples or even in the crowd on that Monday where Jesus predicts His death, what do you think your response would have been?

For Further Study: 

     *1 Samuel 16:7

     *Mark 11:19-22

     *Luke 16:15

     *Jeremiah 7:11-12

     *Luke 19:47-48

     *John 1:5; 2:14-16; 3:19-21; 8:12

     * Matthew 21:18-19a

2. Monday

Charles R. Swindoll, Sunday to Sunday: A Pictorial Journey through the Passion Week (IFL Publishing House, 2010), p.19.