Passion Week ~ Wednesday (continued)
In our last post, we continued to examine the final days of Yeshua’s life and ministry. This post explores the events that may have occurred on Wednesday.
Yeshua Teaches At The Temple
37 Yeshua spent His days at the Temple, teaching, while at night, He went out and stayed on the hill called the Mount of Olives. 38 All the people would rise with the dawn to come and hear Him at the Temple courts. [1]
Many Still Disbelieve
37 Even though He had performed so many miracles in their presence, they still did not put their trust in Him, 38 in order that what Yesha’yahu the prophet had said might be fulfilled,
“Adonai, who has believed our report?
To whom has the arm of Adonai been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)
Given the traditional method of citing the beginning of a passage to call to mind the whole, the inference is that all of Isaiah 53:1–12 applies to Yeshua.
39 The reason they could not believe was – as Yesha’yahu said elsewhere –
They could not believe. God allows everyone to “believe” or “trust” Him. But if they reject him, He may eventually make belief impossible: He hardens hearts (Romans 9:18). In this case, God blinded them (vv. 40–41), just as He hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12, 11:10) after Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:32) so that it became impossible for Pharaoh to trust in God.
40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so that they do not see with their eyes,
understand with their hearts,
and do t’shuvah (turn from sins)
so that I could heal them.” (Isaiah 6:10)
41 (Yesha’yahu said these things because he saw the Sh’khinah (Manifest Glory) of Yeshua and spoke about him.)
Some Are Afraid
42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders did trust in Him; but because of the P’rushim, they did not say so openly, out of fear of being banned from the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from other people more than praise from God.
Believers in Yeshua are not to hide their faith but confess it openly. One hears of “secret believers” who acknowledge to a small circle of friends that Yeshua is the Messiah but refuse to let it be generally known or even deny it. What they have is a powerless intellectual consent that cannot save them. Yet, I would say that this does not apply to underground churches as a whole throughout the world.
Yeshua Makes His Final Appeal
44 Yeshua declared publicly, “Those who put their trust in me are trusting not merely in me, but in the One who sent me. 45 Also, those who see me see the One who sent me. 46 I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who trusts in me might not remain in the dark. 47 If anyone hears what I am saying and does not observe it, I don’t judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 Those who reject me and don’t accept what I say have a judge—the word which I have spoken will judge them on the Last Day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.” [2]
This summary of Yeshua’s public message and challenge encourages “secret believers” to become public witnesses who let their words and lives proclaim fearlessly that they rely on God and His truth. To reject Yeshua is to reject God, and His message will stand to judge all humanity.
Talmidim Make Preparations
7 Then came the day of matzah, on which the Passover lamb had to be killed.
The day of matzah. Not the day on which matzah is first eaten, but the day before Pesach begins, when chametz (“leaven”) must be removed from the house. On which the Passover lamb had to be killed in the Temple Court. The laws of Pesach then mandated slaughtering and eating a lamb to memorialize the lamb slain and consumed by each family on the night of the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:3–14).
8 Yeshua sent Kefa and Yochanan, instructing them, “Go and prepare our Seder, so we can eat.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?” 10 He told them, “As you’re going into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.
A man carrying a jar of water would be an unusual sight, as this was ordinarily women’s work.
Follow him into the house he enters, 11 and say to its owner, ‘The Rabbi says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I am to eat the Pesach meal with my talmidim?”‘
Where I am to eat the Pesach with my talmidim, a rabbi’s follower would consider it an honor to have his rabbi request the use of his home for Him and His students to observe Passover.
12 He will show you a large room upstairs already furnished; make the preparations there.” 13 They went and found things just as Yeshua had told them they would be, and they prepared for the Seder. [3]
In our next, we continue to follow Yeshua into Yerushalayim for His Crucifixion by the end of the week and move on to The Upper Room.
My Heart is for Israel 