As Jesus left the temple (after he had confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees) and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him (on the Mount of Olives) “to point out its buildings.” (The Mount of Olives is located next to Jerusalem and refers to the ridge located east of the City. It gets its name from the olive groves that at one time covered the land. Looking toward Jerusalem,)
Jesus says: “Do you see all these things?” ““Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.
“Tell us,” they said, “when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
Jesus’ message can be fairly characterized as apocalyptic eschatology. Scripture scholars believe that Jesus expected God to put an end to the normal course of things by raising the dead, judging the world and transforming the earth so that the divine will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Critical scholars have also believed that for Jesus this eschatological metamorphosis was near to hand.
Mt 24: 9-30
Jesus goes on to describe the End Times starting with the many persecutions of Christians after Jesus dies. “They will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.”
(Are these fake prophets, he speaks about, the leaders/preachers of many of the current Christian Churches?)
And about many Christians? “Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Does this sound like our current world???
“At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.”
(In 2016, wasn’t a certain presidential candidate and new president considered, by the Catholic Church and many evangelical Churches, to be “the savior of the ProLife movement???)
‘Unparalleled privilege’: why white evangelicals see Trump as their savior
Jesus then speaks about his return “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Then Jesus tries to explain what he just said by using three parables which describe what his disciples must do to be considered “the elect” or those who truly followed him by doing what he taught them to do as his disciples. The following is one of those parables.
The Sheep and the Goats
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’
And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’”
“Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Holy Week is about US and how we live, what we do, and how we evangelize the rest of society to progress toward distributive justice for all by lessening the gap between the “haves and the havenots”’.
The Plot to Kill Jesus Mt 26: 1-16
(Mark 14:1–2; Luke 22:1–2; John 11:45–57)
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, He told His disciples, “You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him. “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
Jesus takes his disciples and others to further demonstrate what he teaches them and US about the Kingdom of God on earth. Many followers of Jesus are concerned about his passive resistance to Roman rule which is an antithesis to the Kingdom of God. They see Jesus as God’s representative and the one who will initiate the Kingdom of God on earth. They also realize that he may die because of this.
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
(Mark 14:3–9; Luke 7:36–50; John 12:1–8)
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and asked, “Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high price, and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus asked, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful deed to Me. The poor you will always have with you,but you will not always have Me. By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Judas, like many people today, thinks that Jesus is too idealistic and impractical, in other words” he’s wasting money that could be put to better use.
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
“Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver. So from then on Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.”
How do we betray Jesus?
Do we seek power over others? Are we more concerned about our reputation and status in society than upholding our Christian integrity and character? Are wealth and possessions more important than family, friends, and those in need???
Faith Seeking Understanding 