Tuesday

Today’s Verses:  Mark 11:19-12:37

The Seven Woes

“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observed and do, but do not according to their works; for they say, and do not do’” (Matthew 23:1-13)

Bruce Marchiano, a young Christian actor, played Jesus in the Visual Bible’s phenomenal motion picture, The Gospel According to Matthew.  I’ll never forget the scene when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and the scene at the end of the movie of a joyful Jesus turning to us, the viewers, beckoning us to follow Him.  If you’ve never seen the movie you’re missing a blessing.  Bruce had the opportunity in a subsequent book to search his soul and share what he was experiencing during the shooting of each scene.  Below are his profound personal thoughts on the shooting of Matthew 23—the Seven Woes, which took place on the temple steps on Tuesday of Passion Week; they focus on seeing Jesus’ love and anger displayed against the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to rid Israel of this blasphemer.  

“The Lord wasn’t spitting fire at these guys—He was loving them.  His rage was not a self-righteous “Now you’ve had it!”  It was the rage one experiences watching someone he loves walk out the door. It was a rage born of a broken heart.  It was His last-ditch effort to gain them—desperately holding a mirror to their faces, passionately heart-crying for them, having done everything He could to make them see and understand, "I am He!  And I love you! Don't do what you're doing!  Come to Me!"

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…

How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,

But you were not willing.

Look, your house is left to you desolate.

How Jesus treasured and desired them; how He wept over their self-destruction.  The broken heart of Jesus—so much deeper than any of us can imagine.” (3)

Questions to think about:

*Have you ever been “loved” in this way? 

*For whom do you heart-cry?

*Knowing what you know about Jesus, what would your thoughts be if you were in the crowd or if you were one of the disciples watching this happen and how would that affect you?

For Further Study: 

     *Matthew 23:13-36

     *Luke 18:31-34; 19:45-48

     *Matthew 24:3-31

     *Mark 13:3-37

     *Luke 21:5-28

     *1 John 2:18

     *Luke 20:1-47; 21:37-38

     *Matthew 21:19b-22:46

3. Tuesday

Bruce Marchiano, In the Footsteps of Jesus: One Man’s Journey through the Life of Jesus (Harvest House Publishers, 1997), p.163.