This past Sunday we started a new series that’s leading up to Easter based on the last week of Jesus.
That week starts as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and is hailed as a king. A homeless prophet is heralded as royalty, but knows in the back of his mind… this all about to end.
In the next seven days Jesus would be betrayed, murdered, buried in a borrowed tomb, and ultimately He would raise to life as He defeated sin and death forever.
Now… that’s a week!
In that last week Jesus showed us a few key principles that should consistently define our lives.
Jesus customarily visited the temple upon coming to Jerusalem. This trip wouldn’t be any different. Jesus wakes up after being celebrated like a rock star and went to the temple.
This visit would change everything.
There were two groups of people in the temple that Jesus took issue with: those exchanging currency (the money-changers) and those who were selling pigeons.
The money-changers were turning a profit by charging high exchange rates to people who showed up with an less preferred currency. They set up shop in a sacred space to make money off the people who showed up to worship. The folks selling the doves were in the same boat. Instead of the worshippers providing their own sacrifices, these guys were making money by offering a quick-fix solution.
Even though Jesus had visited the temple the night before and seen the same things, it was now time to do something about it.
Jesus grabbed a whip and drove the merchants out of the temple.
It was time to do something.
What’s one thing that would change if you found out that you had one week left to live?
You’d DO something different.
In His last week Jesus lived unapologetically motivated by a passion to follow His Father.
As He cracked the whip in the temple, he told them “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’, but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17)
That moment of passion ignited a hate for Jesus among the religious leaders that ended in Jesus execution.
There’s one thing that could change everything: a passion that compels us to do something.
What have you been putting off?
What has God called you to do that you’ve been refusing to respond to?
Where is that passion?