According to the Gospel of St. John, Jesus had just the day before been at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany, with Martha and Mary, sisters to Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. Mary had anointed Jesus liberally with spikenard, an expensive oil traditionally used to honour royalty. An argument followed. Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, said the oil should not have been wasted, that it could have been sold and the money used for the poor. Jesus rebuked him, defended her, and said that the anointing was, in fact, in preparation for his burial. No one seemed to understand that his words were meant literally.
The next morning – on what we now call Palm Sunday – Jesus instructed two of the disciples to go to a neighbouring village where they would find an ass and its colt tied. They were instructed to take the animals, and to tell whoever questioned them, “The Lord has need of them.” Things transpired exactly as he said, and the beasts were brought to him. Then began his journey into Jerusalem.
As Jesus rode toward the city, word spread quickly, and the people, some who believed, and some who were only anxious to believe, that Jesus was the promised Messiah, lay down their cloaks and palm fronds for him to ride over as he entered the city. They cried out, “Hosanna” and “Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord,” fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, who said, “…shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
One scholar has suggested there was more to this image than just fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy. It might also harken back to the words recorded in Genesis, of Jacob, known as Israel, to his son, Judah, saying, “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine.” This scholar suggests that the two beasts represent the people of God’s covenants both before and after Christ’s sacrifice, one tied to the vine, or the Law of Moses, and the other to the choice vine, or what the Apostle Paul called the “Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”.
Whether or not this interpretation is correct, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem marked both a beginning and an end. Now commenced the last week of his ministry and the first days of his atoning work. This is the week he would die, and is the week that new life in him would commence for all creation, and especially for all who believe in him.
Both the Bible and The Book of Mormon show that Jesus was a man of deep emotion. This is, in fact, a more accurate translation of the word, “jealous,” including when the scriptures note that Jehovah – Jesus’ premortal name – was a jealous god. In his book, Taking God Seriously, Stuart Briscoe says, “To be jealous means to feel deeply …to be stirred emotionally and motivated into action because of that emotional involvement.”
Jesus, the man, carried forward the emotionality of Jehovah, the god, into his mortal being; so, as he rode the beasts toward Jerusalem, it is written that he wept for the city, lamenting that if they had only truly perceived who he was and what was upon them, they would be at peace; but now they lacked peace because of their ignorance, and more trouble would yet come to them.
During the first half of this week, Jesus was then daily in the temple teaching and healing. It is impossible to share in just a short talk all the things that Jesus did and taught during this time. Four chapters in each of the Gospel of St. Luke and the Gospel of St. Mark, and six chapters in each of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John seek to share many of his parables, miracles and other teachings given during this week.
These include the parables of the Ten Virgins, the King’s Son, the Householder and the Husbandmen, the Talents, the Sheep and the Goats, and the Fig Tree. They also include his prophetic warnings about the destruction of Jerusalem following his death, the future trials of his disciples, and the eventual destruction that would come in the latter-days. It is from this period we learn the principles of the Widow’s Mite, and of rendering unto Caesar that which is Caeser’s and unto God that which is God’s. And during this time, many came to him who were blind or lame, and he healed them all.
The meaning of this strange miracle is debated. Obviously, it demonstrates Jesus’ power over nature, but it also may convey other meaning. Perhaps it reminded his disciples of an earlier parable Jesus taught about a barren fig tree that the owner intended to destroy; but the servant of the owner intervened and promised to nurture the tree himself in order to save it. This parable about the saving grace and intervention of Jesus Christ is reflected as well in some aspects of the long parable of the olive tree recorded in The Book of Mormon.
But for the real fig tree that Jesus cursed, there was no salvation. The tree withered and died. Some have interpreted this as one of the ways that Jesus signaled again that old things were coming to an end, that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed, that the old covenant under the Law of Moses would end. Alternatively, in his book, Jesus the Christ, the latter-day apostle James Talmage suggests that at the time of its withering, the tree would have been in full foliage, ahead of its season, and therefore appeared like a fruitful tree, but was not. He sees in this a symbol of all human hypocrisy, representing those of whom the Lord warned, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Maybe it was too much affinity for the things of this world that drove Jesus’ apostle, Judas Iscariot, to betray him during this week as well. But it would probably be a mistake to think this was simply a matter of greed. Not only was the 30 pieces of silver offered to him by the chief priests and Pharisees, to tell them where Jesus could be apprehended, only a relatively modest amount of money at the time – a bit more than a month’s ordinary wages – it was this same Judas who complained that Mary’s expensive ointment should have been sold to care for the poor. Perhaps he was lying then; but it is possible that Judas betrayed Jesus only because he had favoured more overt political action against the Roman occupiers of their land, in place of Jesus’ path of peace and spirituality; perhaps he thought his loyalty to Jesus had been misplaced; or perhaps he had begun to fear for his own safety, figuring arrest was inevitable, and wanted to ensure the authorities did not include him when they would ultimately come after the Lord and his disciples. Whatever the case was, it was during this week that Judas plotted his betrayal, and on the evening of Passover – after the meal we now call the Last Supper – he completed this awful deed.
When it came time to prepare and enjoy the Passover feast, Jesus instructed his disciples to return to Jerusalem. According to the Synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke - it was actually on this day, while Jesus and the disciples were back in Bethany before the Passover meal, that Mary's anointing of Jesus took place. Whatever the case, Jesus sent them back and he said they would meet a man with a pitcher of water, and entering whatever house he would enter, they should say to the master of the house, “The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?” They did as he said, and the master of the house led them to an upper room, where they prepared the evening’s feast.
It was on this sacred night that memorialized God’s saving of Israel from Egypt by Moses, that Jesus instituted two sacred practices.
First, John records that before the meal began, Jesus washed the feet of each of his disciples. When the apostle Peter sought to stop him, Jesus said, “What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter… If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Today, we continue to practice the ordinance of washing in the temple as we affirm our covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and seek to receive the blessing of becoming joint heirs with Christ in the kingdom of the Father.
It was in this solemn setting that Jesus also told his followers that one amongst them would betray him. Each of the apostles asked, fearfully, “Is it I?” except one. Perhaps testing Jesus, Judas last asked him, “Master, is it I?” to which Jesus answered, “Thou hast said,” “That thou doest, do quickly.” Shortly after, Judas left, and Jesus declared, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”
The wheels then being firmly set in motion, the balance of this story is one we all know all too well.
Jesus continued teaching and testifying to his disciples throughout the night. He offered his great intercessory prayer for them, and warned, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
At this time, we are told that Christ’s atoning sacrifice had begun, that the pains he felt as he knelt and submitted to the Father’s will were the pains that each of us, through our sin and ignorance, error and unkindness, have cast upon him. “Which suffering,” he said when speaking to the prophet Joseph Smith, “caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit.”
“And when he rose up from prayer,” concludes Luke, “and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow.” Soon, however, they were awakened as Judas and the temple guard appeared to arrest Jesus. The disciples sought to defend him, but Jesus stopped them, even healing one of the soldiers who was injured by St. Peter’s sword. And then he was taken from them.
At first, Pilate refused to see him, finding it more convenient to send him to King Herod, who had authority over Galileans. Before Herod – the same Herod who had slain John the Baptist – the chief priests and Sanhedrin repeated their accusations; and Herod himself and his soldiers mocked Jesus; but rather than condemn him, they ironically dressed him in beautiful clothes and sent him back to Pilate.
It was in that bruised, bloodied and demeaned state that Jesus re-emerged before Pilate, who, at last, was overcome with the pressure of the Jewish leaders’ insistence, and the helplessness of Jesus’ silence, and succumbed to the demand that he be crucified.
The soldiers gambled over the clothes he had worn. When he asked for drink, they gave him vinegar. His disciples were almost all too afraid to face him. Peter, as Jesus had warned him he would do, even denied having known him. Only John, called the Beloved Disciple, Jesus’ mother, Mary, her sister, also Mary, and Mary Magdalene, stood at the foot of the cross feeling, no doubt, agonizing sorrow and horror.
And then, before the day was done, and the next day – the Sabbath – had begun, Jesus said, “It is finished,” bowed his head, and died.
Now, we all know that that is not the end of the story. But that is where I will end today. Despite the promises Christ gives us of a glorious resurrection and of eternal life, I believe it is important for us to remember how he bought those gifts for us. It is important for us to remember, as best we can, not only why, but how and how much he suffered. Brothers and sisters, without sharing the details of my personal experience, I want you to know that it is not impossible for you to know for yourselves what Jesus has suffered on your behalf and to be certain about the awesome gift he has given you. “Behold,” he said, “I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.”
This Easter season, let us remember not only the help he offers for our happiness, but the price he paid for our peace, and the stripes he bore by which we are healed. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.