Holy week: Advance notice wasn’t enough, because facts are not enough
By Dean Collins
What do you do when you have advance notice? It probably depends on what the notice is about. If it is something desirable, you might get ready ahead. For instance, if you know your employer is giving you an extra day off around a future holiday, then you might plan how to use that extra day for your benefit or pleasure. And knowing in advance you have the day off might prompt you to get as much work as possible done before that so you won’t be behind when you go back.
But if your advance notice is hard news, you might shift into some form of denial. I suspect this is part of what happened to the disciples during Holy Week.
“You know what’s coming”
There seems to be a lot of activity and teaching the first couple of days after Palm Sunday. Right after the convicting words of Jesus in Matthew 25, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” We don’t know the exact day of the week but it seems that Jesus might have said this on Monday evening or Tuesday, possibly Wednesday. Whenever Jesus spoke these words, he was giving the disciples advance notice. In fact, according to Matthew 26:2, this is the fourth time Jesus gave them advance notice of his impending death.
Earlier Jesus had told the disciples that when they got to Jerusalem, he would suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests and be killed (Matthew 16:21-23). Peter challenged Jesus concerning this news, and Jesus rebuked him. Being corrected by Jesus doesn’t always change our behavior, nor does knowing information about him in advance. It seems we tend to believe what we want and ignore what we want to ignore.
Soon after that, as Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Jerusalem, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” At this, according to Scripture, “they were greatly distressed.”
We can certainly relate. It is normal to feel anxiety when we know difficulty is just around the corner. Maybe it’s a tough conversation, an anticipated surgery, a significant change of life circumstances, or the knowledge that our loved one just has hours or days left to live. Advance notice doesn’t take away our anxieties when difficulty and pain lie ahead.
“Flogged, crucified, and raised on the third day”
As Jesus and his disciples began their journey to Jerusalem, he again took them aside and told them what would happen when they got there. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem,” he said. “And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Notice this time Jesus added new details. The suffering would include flogging ahead of the crucifixion. And as with the earlier promises, in this advance notice Jesus pointed out that he would rise again. His suffering and death would not be the end. But for the disciples, it certainly felt like it. We can relate here as well. We know after life ends on this side, another day, a new day, is coming when we will share the resurrection of Jesus. But when we are facing difficulty and are filled with anxiety and suffering, these truths are sometimes hard to keep in front of mind.
Anointing, betrayal, denial
Now just two days before the Passover, Jesus confirmed what he had told the disciples at least three times before: You know the Passover is this week and this is the week I will be crucified. As we read chapter 26 we see that advance notice brings a variety of responses. The woman with the alabaster jar anointed Jesus preparing him for burial. Some scoffed at her behavior while Jesus received her kindness.
Judas took advantage of his advance notice and chose to betray Jesus in his last days and hours. Peter tried to appear strong by declaring he would never deny Jesus. Later he would even take up a sword to try to keep the arrest from happening. And in the end, even knowing what would happen, he couldn’t compensate for his own weaknesses.
“Nothing except Jesus”
All of these events in Matthew 26 are old news for us who live 2,000-plus years later. We know the facts better than the disciples knew them, even though they experienced them. But I expect by now you have figured out that advance notice, even with repeated information of the facts, does not keep us from behaving badly. We can know the facts, but we cannot help ourselves without choosing daily to know Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 2 as in Philippians 2, Paul suggests another level of knowing.
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. “
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
When Paul writes to believers in Corinth and in Philippi, he describes a knowledge that is no longer just facts. Paul has chosen to know Christ through his surrender to him. Paul’s daily surrender to Jesus is evident in the breadth of his ministry. He chose to suffer with and for Christ that he might know him more fully, love him more deeply, and serve him more boldly.
As we go through the facts of the passion of Christ again this week, I pray God would move us beyond information and into the transformation of hearts fully surrendered to the one who gave his life for us.
Your time with God’s Word
Matthew 26:2, 12, 14-16, 20-21, 25-26, 29, 31-35; 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 1 Corinthians 2:2-5; Philippians 3:8 ESV
Photo by John Gibbons at Unsplash
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