Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Every day that Jesus lived on this earth is a day worthy of our attention.

Jesus wasted none of His days on earth.

He was always about His “Father’s business” ().

At any time in His life, Jesus could say, “I do always those things that please him” ().

During every week that He lived upon the earth, He demonstrated that His mission, as He put it, was “to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” ().

The way that Jesus lived the last week of His earthly life before His crucifixion is the way that He lived His entire earthly life.

He was not more or less spiritual.

His focus was the same: “to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

It is enlightening for us to zoom in on the week before Jesus died, and to examine the way that He lived.

The Friday And Saturday Before He Died

According to , “then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.”

Jesus would have observed the Sabbath and thus it is probable that he arrived in Bethany on Friday before the Sabbath began.

The description of the preparations of making a supper, and Martha serving, would have been violations of the Sabbath law, and so it must have been on Friday before the Sabbath, or on Saturday evening after sundown, that this supper took place ().

“When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,” (), Mary took a pound of very costly spikenard, “and she brake the box, and poured it on his head” (), “and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair” ().

John informs us that Judas Iscariot feigned concern for the poor by grumbling aloud that this ointment could have been sold “for three hundred pence, and given to the poor” ().

Perhaps it was his statement that influenced other disciples to agree (inwardly and outwardly, ), that this was a wasteful action on her part ().

However, Jesus defended her actions, and even lauded her as one that would be remembered “wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world” ().

John also informs us that Judas had no real concern for the poor.

He was a thief, and he was thinking of the missed opportunity to sell this very costly ointment in order to steal the proceeds from the sale for his own covetous gain ().

When the word got out that Jesus was in Bethany, “much people of the Jews” came to see Him and “that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead” ().

Because Lazarus was a walking advertisement to the Deity of Jesus Christ, “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” ().

The Sunday Before He Died

John reveals, "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord ().

This event, often labeled as “The Triumphal Entry Of Jesus Into Jerusalem,” is recorded in all four Gospel records (; ; ; ).

The trip from Bethany to Jerusalem was only 2 miles long.

According to , as Jesus and His disciples “drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them” ().

Matthew records that “all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass” ().

The prophecy referenced here is the one recorded in .

Mark’s account records that the colt was one “whereon never man sat” (; cf. ).

The disciples did exactly as Jesus instructed () and “found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met” ().

Luke reports that “as they were loosing the colt, the owners asked them, “Why loose ye the colt?” ().

They responded precisely as the Lord had commanded, “The Lord hath need of him” ().

Matthew’s inspired record indicates that the disciples brought both the ass (mare) and the colt ().

This makes perfect sense because the presence of the mother would have assisted the disciples in leading the colt more calmly to their destination, especially in view of the loud crowds along the way.

Once the disciples arrived, they brought the colt to Jesus, threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat upon it () and rode it toward the city of Jerusalem.

Along the way, “at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen” ().

Moreover, “a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” ().

As they strewed their garments and palm branches (their national symbol) in the path of Jesus, one cannot help but think that some of them were thinking of how Solomon, the son of David, rode upon David’s mule as he rode to the Gihon to be anointed as the king and ruler over Israel and Judah ().

When Jehu was anointed as king over Israel, “they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king” ().

Their statement, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” comes right from the Messianic predictions of .

Many were acknowledging Jesus as their King.

One thing is certain—the whole city was moved by this event, saying, “Who is this?” ().

The multitude responded, “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” ().

Some, who had witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, had reported these events and “for this cause the people also met him, for they heard that he had done this miracle” ().

This upset the Pharisees no little.

We know that “some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples” ().

Jesus responded, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” ().

Among themselves, the Pharisees said, “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?

Behold, the world is gone after him” ().

However, Jesus full well knew that these cheers would turn into jeers in just a matter of days.

Some of the same voices crying “Hosanna” () would be crying “Crucify him, crucify him” ().

Thus, in the midst of these cheers we read of Messianic tears.

As Jesus came ever closer to the city, “he beheld the city, and wept over it” because He knew that the time was coming when Rome would destroy it, including the temple ().

Perhaps this is why Mark records that on this same day, this Sunday, “Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve” ().

The Monday Before He Died

The Gospel of Mark picks up the account “on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany” () and reveals that Jesus “was hungry.”

Jesus saw a fig tree afar off, and it had leaves, but it had “nothing but leaves” ().

The time of figs was normally near the end of May and in the month of June.

However, we know that it was a few days before the Passover when Jesus approached this fig tree.

Since the Passover normally fell during the middle of April, why would Jesus be looking for food on this fig tree, especially when Mark tells us that “the time of figs was not yet” ()?

The answer is that, although the prime time for figs was in late May and June, small and edible buds would begin to appear as early as March, followed by the leaves in early April.

If the early buds did not develop, then that tree would not bear figs that year.

When Jesus saw the leaves at a distance it was reasonable to expect that the edible buds already would be present.

When Jesus found nothing but leaves, His disciples heard Him say to the tree, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever” ().

The disciples did not notice it until the next day (), but in some sense, “presently the fig tree withered away” ().

After cursing the fig tree, Jesus and the disciples finished their entrance into Jerusalem, “and Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple” ().

Jesus rebuked them, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” ().

Additionally, “the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them” ().

Much to the sore displeasure of the chief priests and scribes, the children cried in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the son of David” ().

They asked Jesus whether He heard what they were saying.

Rather than criticizing the children, Jesus replied, “Yea, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has thou hast perfected praise?” ().

The words and deeds of Jesus on this occasion inflamed the scribes and chief priests so much that they “sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine” ().

The Gospel of John reports an event that also possibly happened on Monday, although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact timing when it occurred.

A number of scholars believe that the event recorded in occurred after Jesus cleansed the temple.

Others suggest that this event happened near the close of Tuesday, as one of the last things that happened before Jesus returned to Bethany on Tuesday evening.

Whatever the exact time, certain Greeks had come up to worship at the feast and they came to Philip with this request: “Sir, we would see Jesus” ().

Andrew and Philip told Jesus of this request, and His response is quite poignant.

“The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified…Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour” (, ).

When Jesus said, “Father, glorify thy name,” “then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” ().

Some of the people standing nearby thought that “it thundered” while others thought that an angel spoke to him ().

Jesus explained, “The voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” ().

According to John, Jesus said these words to signify the type of death He would experience ().

The people were astonished that the Christ they had anticipated could die.

They thought the Christ would abide forever.

They certainly never envisioned Him as being crucified ().

Jesus explained to them, “Yet a little while is the light with you.

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye maybe the children of light” ().

We do know for sure that sometime after Jesus cleansed the temple on Monday, He departed from them, left the city of Jerusalem, and went out of the city into Bethany and spent the night there (; ).

The Tuesday Before He Died

On Tuesday morning, Jesus and the disciples started making their way back to Jerusalem.

As they approached they saw the fig tree Jesus had cursed the day before, and it was already “dried up from the roots” ().

Peter was so astonished by this that he pointed it out to Jesus ().

In fact, “when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How soon is the fig tree withered away!” ().