Christ's Final Days

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This is Day 38 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

Jesus knew that His death was drawing near and so He took His most trusted disciples, Peter, James, and John, to the top of a mountain. And there they saw Jesus in all of His glory, transfigured into His glorified body. As they watched, Elijah the prophet and Moses came and spoke to Jesus. Elijah represented the prophets and Moses represented the Law. Then a thunderous voice called out that this was God's beloved Son and to listen to Him. Peter, James, and John fell down on their faces. When Jesus came and got them to their feet, Elijah and Moses were gone, and Jesus looked normal again.

"I showed you that to strengthen you for the trials to come," Jesus told them. He knew that when He died that His followers would panic and flee. After all, the Scriptures predicted that when the shepherd was struck the sheep would scatter.

Six days before the Passover Jesus was staying at the home of His friends Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They lived in the small town of Bethany outside of Jerusalem.

While Jesus was eating with them Mary came up behind Him with a jar of very expensive ointment and anointed His head and His feet. One of Jesus' disciples, Judas who would betray Him, complained that this oil should have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Judas didn't care about the poor, he was in charge of the purse and stole money from it.

Jesus replied that they should leave Mary alone for she had done a good thing. "Let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

Jesus knew that His enemies wanted to kill Him. He had escaped them many times before, slipping away unexpectedly because His time had not yet come. But eventually it did come. Jesus had preached the Good News of salvation, known as the Gospel, for three years, but now it was time for His Passion.

Jesus knew He was going to die and He knew the type of death it was going to be. He also knew that it would be extremely painful. Most men would have fled in the opposite direction of Jerusalem where His enemies awaited Him. But Jesus instead went to Jerusalem. And when He got there He entered the city riding on the back of the colt of a donkey just as King Solomon had entered the city at his father David's command.

As Jesus rode through the city, people welcomed Him as a king. They cheered for Him and spread their cloaks and palm branches on the ground. That is why we commemorate this every year on a day known as Palm Sunday.

Jesus and His disciples found a place to eat the Passover meal in the upper room of a house. There they prepared and ate the Passover meal, now known as the Last Supper. He took the bread, blessed it and broke it saying, "Take, eat, this is my body." Then He took the chalice and gave thanks and said, "Drink of it all of you, for this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins." This was the institution of the Eucharist.

After they had eaten, Jesus gave them final instructions and said the final prayers. He prayed for His disciples and He prayed for the world. He prayed that His church would always be united just as the Father and Son were united. And knowing Judas was going to betray Him, He sent the traitor out to lead His enemies to Him.

The disciples, still worldly in their thinking, were arguing over who would be the greatest in Christ's kingdom, so Jesus took a towel and a basin of water, got down on His knees and washed their feet. He explained that while the world may lord power over others, that He expected His disciples to be humble, forgiving, and loving. Anyone who wanted to be master, must first be a servant of all.

Jesus told them that none of them would stand by Him when His hour came. But they all claimed they would, most especially Peter who boasted that he would never leave his Lord even if it meant going with Him to death. But Jesus informed Peter that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed that morning.

Jesus then took His disciples out to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray. While sweating drops of blood from the anxiety of His coming Passion, Jesus crawled on his belly and begged His father to take the bitter cup of His crucifixion from Him. As we have already discussed, Jesus did not want to be tortured and killed. But He was willing to do it, because it was God's will.

It's easy to obey God when He wants us to do what we want to do. But Jesus demonstrates that the true test of obedience is to do the will of God even when we don't want to. Jesus was willing to obey God even unto death and His Father sent an angel to strengthen Him for His Passion. God will strengthen us, too, when we are asked to do something we don't want to do. He will give us the strength to get through whatever He asks of us.

While Jesus prayed, His disciples kept falling asleep. At first Jesus was annoyed, but eventually resolved to let them rest. But as He did He noticed Judas leading a mob to come and arrest Him. His hour had finally come.

Next: Christ's Passion.

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!