Tag Archives: Holy Tuesday

Devotional, Holy Week Series, Previous Post

REVISITED: Journey with Jesus: Holy Tuesday

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SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 21:23–24:51; Mark 11:27-13:37; Luke 20:1-21:36

Matthew 231322

AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT

Wow, and I thought yesterday was tense! I was shaking from head to toe when Jesus started to overturn those tables and was shouting like a madman! Part of me was scared that the Romans, perched in towers overlooking the Temple complex, would descend on us and crush us right then and right there. The other part of me was excited because Jesus was finally showing the zeal that we have been taught that the Messiah would have. I began to wonder if, perhaps Jesus was this Messiah…cleansing the House of God before purging Israel of her enemies.

But today Jesus started teaching really strange things! He spoke in parables that were set up to make the Pharisees look bad. He compared the Pharisees to a group of murderous farm tenants who refused to give the farm owner his due and killed anyone the farm owner sent them…including his own son! Jesus went on to flat-out curse the Pharisees and the scribes shouting, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.”

You could just feel the tension in the air. The religious leaders looked beyond mad. If looks could kill…well you know how the phrase goes. Then, Jesus questioned their knowledge of the very scriptures they are well versed in. He asked them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?” I got the real sense that he was referring to himself! Was he saying that he was going to be rejected and die? How could he be the Messiah and die? How was that even possible if the Messiah was supposed to free Israel from oppression? Why would this “Messiah” curse our religious leaders? Wouldn’t the Messiah focus his energy on Rome?

REFLECTION

What are your expectations of Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? Do you find that your “Jesus” falls in line with what you think he should be? When you hear or read Jesus’ words of chastisement, who do you envision Jesus talking to? Is he talking about “them”, or is he talking about “us”? Is he talking about “you” or is he talking about “me”?

On this Holy Tuesday, let us remember Jesus’ warnings to the religious leaders of the day. Will we continue to cross land and sea to create converts to OUR way? Will we look like we are righteous on the outside, when in reality we are dead on the inside? Will we be the ones who reject the stone only to be crushed by it? Or will we lay down OUR way and make GOD’s way the cornerstone of our faith? What is God’s way, “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

PRAYER

Lord, humble me and become the cornerstone of my faith. Let me drop my religion and pick up your love, compassion and mercy in its stead. Amen.

Devotional, Holy Week Series, Previous Post

REVISITED: SON OF GOD: Holy Tuesday

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Read Matthew 26:6-13

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:7-8 NRSV)

sw_ms_1003a

People who are caregivers do so because they are compassionate people who want to help others. They provide the care out of love. Jesus was a caregiver on so many different levels, and he brought that care to others because of his profound love and compassion for them. I can only imagine, at the end of the day, how exhausted Jesus was. In his caring, he also was compelled to speak out against injustices and woes of society. So, when Jesus finally left Jerusalem after a long day of healing the sick and the paralyzed, after preaching in the Temple and cleansing it of it’s impurity, I can only imagine how drained and exhausted Jesus must have been. Then to top it off, he was carrying around the weight of his imminent torture, humiliation, and excruciating death. Jesus was spent emotionally, physically, psychologically, and even spiritually.

In Bethany, after having performed miracles and after teaching, Jesus sat down to relax. It was then that a woman came into him and broke open an alabaster jar and began to anoint Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. The disciples were incensed because that could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor; however, Jesus welcomed it and scolded his disciples. The woman, Jesus revealed to them, was caring for Jesus in his moment of great need. The Son of God, who had cared for so many, was being cared for by someone who saw his need and had compassion for him.

We often reflect the attitude of the disciple, do we not? We are often to busy caring or to busy being cared for to notice the needs that lay right by us. We look to our caregivers for their guidance and support, we look to them for their care, and for their example in caring. In the process of that we often forget that they, too, need to be cared for. They are, after all, human like the rest of us. On the flip-side, we caregivers are often so busy that we don’t ever take the time to stop and assess the kind of care we need. Caregivers are notorious for constantly going as if we are the furry pink bunny in the Energizer commercials…you know, the one who keeps on going, and going, and going, and…well you get the drift. In the process, we fail to give others the opportunity to care for us.

Just as in the story about the woman with the alabaster jar, the Son of God is calling us to be his disciples and to start taking note of the needs around us. Don’t turn a blind eye, or be apathetic to the needs of those around you. Also, take note that those who provide you care are, themselves, in need of care too! As a community, God is calling us to be mutual caregivers. Just as in the aforementioned story, Jesus is also calling those of us who are caregivers (doctors, nurses, CNAs, first responders, educators, community leaders/organizers, and spiritual caregivers) to take a break and allow others to care for us once in a while. We aren’t superhuman, we aren’t omnipotent or omnipresent; rather, we are human beings. Remember that caring for others also means giving them the opportunity to care for you. In doing so, you will live into the example hat Jesus, in his humility and in his humanity, set for all of us.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.’” – Peggi Spears

PRAYER
Lord, you have called me to be a caregiver in my own unique way, and you have gifted me with the talents and gifts to carry that caregiving out. Please give me the discernment to know that I, too, need care and that I need to be willing to allow for others to care for me. Amen.

Devotional, Holy Week Series

Holy Week 2021: Fulfilled: Holy Tuesday

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Read Isaiah 49:1-7

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:28 NLT)

When we read the Gospels, we get a sense that Jesus saw himself as a savior of his people. We can see how he he lived, how he taught, and how he ultimately took on the role of God’s suffering servant. We see that he claimed not only to be a teacher or a prophet, but that he was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. What’s more, Jesus claimed to be one with, and the same as, God Almighty, the great I AM.

His disciples not only believed, but were transformed by their relationship with Jesus and, in turn they helped tranform the world. Jesus’ views were not only his own, but ones steeped in his Jewish beliefs and his understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. Each day this week, let us look at the prophetic connection between Jesus and the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.

AngryJesus

Holy Tuesday. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem being hailed as the King of the Jews. He went into the temple and upset the peace by overturning the tables of the money changers. No doubt, this act had both the Temple priests and the Roman leadership looking intently on this individual…this “prophet.” He was showing himself to be a trouble maker.

By Monday, Jesus he began antagonizing the Temple leadership, as well as the teachers of religious laws (known as the Pharisees). He taught in parables that called the leaderhsip out for their hypocrisy. He proclaimed that hey was the the stone that God declared to be the cornerstone and decried the priests and the teachers fo religious law for rejecting him. He certainly did not win many of the priests and Pharisees over on Holy Monday.

On this day, Holy Tuesday, Jesus’ teachings took a sharp and dramatic turn. Instead of teaching in parables, he called the Sadducees and Pharisees out directlty. “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.” (Matthew 23:2-3 NLT). Calling them hypocrites, Jesus levied a series of seven accusations against the religious leadership. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!” (Matthew 23:15 NLT)

Jesus called the leadership out on perverting the law for their own gain. He likened them to “whitewashed tombs”  that look pristine and beautiful on the outside, but are filled with bones and the dead on the inside. His words cut through them and caused their hatred of him to grow to an all-time high. They were already trying to find a way to eliminate him; however, after this display, they were even more determined.

Jesus did not stop there either. He went on to predict that the temple would be destroyed and began to share with his disciples that the world was going to experience a whole lot of darkness before it would see the light of God. Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, for its refusal to accept him and the message of God who had sent him. He lamented, “And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the One who comes in the name of the LORD'” (Matthew 23:38-39 NLT)!

All of this a profound fulfillment of what was written in Isaiah 49:1-7. Jesus’ words were, indeed, “words of judgment as sharp as a sword.” On Holy Tuesday, Jesus was like a sharp arrow in God’s quiver. He was being loosed on the people who were supposed to be witnessing to the glory and love of God but were, instead, basking in their own status and glory to the detriment of God’s people.

Of course, it is easy for us to read this and point fingers at the religious leadership in Jesus’ time; however, Christians believe in the “priesthood” of all believers. That we are all called to bring people to a relationship with Jesus and represent God’s love in the world. The question is, are you doing that? Are you living into the call that God has placed on your life as a believer? Are you exonerated by Jesus, or his sharp words cutting through with convicting truth? I think we all can acknowledge that there is room for us to grow and transform. I pray that we all open our hearts and be transformed by Jesus’ words in fulfillment with what Isaiah prophesied, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to Me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6 NLT)

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Love does not always come in hugs and flowery words, but as words that cut like a sword through the aspects of ourselves that enslave us and bring us down.

PRAYER
Lord, thank you for loving me enough to tell me the truth. Continually guide me and lead me back to you and your Kingdom. Amen.

Devotional, Holy Week Series, Previous Post

A LOOK BACK: SON OF GOD: Holy Tuesday

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Read Matthew 26:6-13

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:7-8 NRSV)

Perfume_PotteryPeople who are caregivers do so because they are compassionate people who want to help others. They provide the care out of love. Jesus was a caregiver on so many different levels, and he brought that care to others because of his profound love and compassion for them. I can only imagine, at the end of the day, how exhausted Jesus was. In his caring, he also was compelled to speak out against injustices and woes of society. So, when Jesus finally left Jerusalem after a long day of healing the sick and the paralyzed, after preaching in the Temple and cleansing it of it’s impurity, I can only imagine how drained and exhausted Jesus must have been. Then to top it off, he was carrying around the weight of his imminent torture, humiliation, and excruciating death. Jesus was spent emotionally, physically, psychologically, and even spiritually.

In Bethany, after having performed miracles and after teaching, Jesus sat down to relax. It was then that a woman came into him and broke open an alabaster jar and began to anoint Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. The disciples were incensed because that could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor; however, Jesus welcomed it and scolded his disciples. The woman, Jesus revealed to them, was caring for Jesus in his moment of great need. The Son of God, who had cared for so many, was being cared for by someone who saw his need and had compassion for him.

We often reflect the attitude of the disciple, do we not? We are often to busy caring or to busy being cared for to notice the needs that lay right by us. We look to our caregivers for their guidance and support, we look to them for their care, and for their example in caring. In the process of that we often forget that they, too, need to be cared for. They are, after all, human like the rest of us. On the flip-side, we caregivers are often so busy that we don’t ever take the time to stop and assess the kind of care we need. Caregivers are notorious for constantly going as if we are the furry pink bunny in the Energizer commercials…you know, the one who keeps on going, and going, and going, and…well you get the drift. In the process, we fail to give others the opportunity to care for us.

Just as in the story about the woman with the alabaster jar, the Son of God is calling us to be his disciples and to start taking note of the needs around us. Don’t turn a blind eye, or be apathetic to the needs of those around you. Also, take note that those who provide you care are, themselves, in need of care too! As a community, God is calling us to be mutual caregivers. Just as in the aforementioned story, Jesus is also calling those of us who are caregivers (doctors, nurses, CNAs, first responders, educators, community leaders/organizers, and spiritual caregivers) to take a break and allow others to care for us once in a while. We aren’t superhuman, we aren’t omnipotent or omnipresent; rather, we are human beings. Remember that caring for others also means giving them the opportunity to care for you. In doing so, you will live into the example hat Jesus, in his humility and in his humanity, set for all of us.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.’” – Peggi Spears

PRAYER
Lord, you have called me to be a caregiver in my own unique way, and you have gifted me with the talents and gifts to carry that caregiving out. Please give me the discernment to know that I, too, need care and that I need to be willing to allow for others to care for me. Amen.

Devotional, Holy Week Series

Fulfilled: Holy Tuesday

Leave a comment

Read Isaiah 49:1-7

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:28 NLT)

When we read the Gospels, we get a sense that Jesus saw himself as a savior of his people. We can see how he he lived, how he taught, and how he ultimately took on the role of God’s suffering servant. We see that he claimed not only to be a teacher or a prophet, but that he was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. What’s more, Jesus claimed to be one with, and the same as, God Almighty, the great I AM.

His disciples not only believed, but were transformed by their relationship with Jesus and, in turn they helped tranform the world. Jesus’ views were not only his own, but ones steeped in his Jewish beliefs and his understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. Each day this week, let us look at the prophetic connection between Jesus and the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.

AngryJesusHoly Tuesday. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem being hailed as the King of the Jews. He went into the temple and upset the peace by overturning the tables of the money changers. No doubt, this act had both the Temple priests and the Roman leadership looking intently on this individual…this “prophet.” He was showing himself to be a trouble maker.

By Monday, Jesus he began antagonizing the Temple leadership, as well as the teachers of religious laws (known as the Pharisees). He taught in parables that called the leaderhsip out for their hypocrisy. He proclaimed that hey was the the stone that God declared to be the cornerstone and decried the priests and the teachers fo religious law for rejecting him. He certainly did not win many of the priests and Pharisees over on Holy Monday.

On this day, Holy Tuesday, Jesus’ teachings took a sharp and dramatic turn. Instead of teaching in parables, he called the Sadducees and Pharisees out directlty. “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.” (Matthew 23:2-3 NLT). Calling them hypocrites, Jesus levied a series of seven accusations against the religious leadership. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!” (Matthew 23:15 NLT)

Jesus called the leadership out on perverting the law for their own gain. He likened them to “whitewashed tombs”  that look pristine and beautiful on the outside, but are filled with bones and the dead on the inside. His words cut through them and caused their hatred of him to grow to an all-time high. They were already trying to find a way to eliminate him; however, after this display, they were even more determined.

Jesus did not stop there either. He went on to predict that the temple would be destroyed and began to share with his disciples that the world was going to experience a whole lot of darkness before it would see the light of God. Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, for its refusal to accept him and the message of God who had sent him. He lamented, “And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the One who comes in the name of the LORD'” (Matthew 23:38-39 NLT)!

All of this a profound fulfillment of what was written in Isaiah 49:1-7. Jesus’ words were, indeed, “words of judgment as sharp as a sword.” On Holy Tuesday, Jesus was like a sharp arrow in God’s quiver. He was being loosed on the people who were supposed to be witnessing to the glory and love of God but were, instead, basking in their own status and glory to the detriment of God’s people.

Of course, it is easy for us to read this and point fingers at the religious leadership in Jesus’ time; however, Christians believe in the “priesthood” of all believers. That we are all called to bring people to a relationship with Jesus and represent God’s love in the world. The question is, are you doing that? Are you living into the call that God has placed on your life as a believer? Are you exonerated by Jesus, or his sharp words cutting through with convicting truth? I think we all can acknowledge that there is room for us to grow and transform. I pray that we all open our hearts and be transformed by Jesus’ words in fulfillment with what Isaiah prophesied, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to Me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6 NLT)

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Love does not always come in hugs and flowery words, but as words that cut like a sword through the aspects of ourselves that enslave us and bring us down.

PRAYER
Lord, thank you for loving me enough to tell me the truth. Continually guide me and lead me back to you and your Kingdom. Amen.

Devotional, Holy Week Series, Previous Post

2017 Holy Week Devotions: Holy Tuesday

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holy-week-2015Every year, Christians the world over observe the final week of Jesus’ life, which ends the season of Lent and propels us to resurrected life outside the empty tomb. With that said, in order to experience resurrection and the eternal life that comes from it, one must first experience the passion, the death, and the depths of the cold, dark, dank and hollow tomb. Walk with Jesus as starts his Holy Week journey being hailed a king and finishes it being crucified an enemy of the empire. Enter the dark uncertainty, of the grief-stricken tomb and experience the transformative power of the resurrection on Easter Sunday, when the unthinkable happens, Jesus is RISEN and walks out of the tomb alive! Celebrate Holy Week and encounter the Risen Lord of all Creation, and experience the resurrection through the One who conquered sin and death.

Today’s devotion is SON OF GOD: Holy Tuesday

Previous Post

JOURNEY WITH JESUS: Holy Tuesday

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Wow, can you believe Holy Week is here already? Lent has flown right on by and we now find ourselves in the midst of the holiest week in the Christian calendar. Take this time to reflect on this day within holy week as you read through a devotion I wrote during holy week a few years ago. Click here to begin today’s deovtion.

Devotional

SON OF GOD: Holy Tuesday

1 Comment

Read Matthew 26:6-13

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:7-8 NRSV)

sw_ms_1003aPeople who are caregivers do so because they are compassionate people who want to help others. They provide the care out of love. Jesus was a caregiver on so many different levels, and he brought that care to others because of his profound love and compassion for them. I can only imagine, at the end of the day, how exhausted Jesus was. In his caring, he also was compelled to speak out against injustices and woes of society. So, when Jesus finally left Jerusalem after a long day of healing the sick and the paralyzed, after preaching in the Temple and cleansing it of it’s impurity, I can only imagine how drained and exhausted Jesus must have been. Then to top it off, he was carrying around the weight of his imminent torture, humiliation, and excruciating death. Jesus was spent emotionally, physically, psychologically, and even spiritually.

In Bethany, after having performed miracles and after teaching, Jesus sat down to relax. It was then that a woman came into him and broke open an alabaster jar and began to anoint Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. The disciples were incensed because that could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor; however, Jesus welcomed it and scolded his disciples. The woman, Jesus revealed to them, was caring for Jesus in his moment of great need. The Son of God, who had cared for so many, was being cared for by someone who saw his need and had compassion for him.

We often reflect the attitude of the disciple, do we not? We are often to busy caring or to busy being cared for to notice the needs that lay right by us. We look to our caregivers for their guidance and support, we look to them for their care, and for their example in caring. In the process of that we often forget that they, too, need to be cared for. They are, after all, human like the rest of us. On the flip-side, we caregivers are often so busy that we don’t ever take the time to stop and assess the kind of care we need. Caregivers are notorious for constantly going as if we are the furry pink bunny in the Energizer commercials…you know, the one who keeps on going, and going, and going, and…well you get the drift. In the process, we fail to give others the opportunity to care for us.

Just as in the story about the woman with the alabaster jar, the Son of God is calling us to be his disciples and to start taking note of the needs around us. Don’t turn a blind eye, or be apathetic to the needs of those around you. Also, take note that those who provide you care are, themselves, in need of care too! As a community, God is calling us to be mutual caregivers. Just as in the aforementioned story, Jesus is also calling those of us who are caregivers (doctors, nurses, CNAs, first responders, educators, community leaders/organizers, and spiritual caregivers) to take a break and allow others to care for us once in a while. We aren’t superhuman, we aren’t omnipotent or omnipresent; rather, we are human beings. Remember that caring for others also means giving them the opportunity to care for you. In doing so, you will live into the example hat Jesus, in his humility and in his humanity, set for all of us.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.’” – Peggi Spears

PRAYER
Lord, you have called me to be a caregiver in my own unique way, and you have gifted me with the talents and gifts to carry that caregiving out. Please give me the discernment to know that I, too, need care and that I need to be willing to allow for others to care for me. Amen.

Devotional

Journey with Jesus: Holy Tuesday

1 Comment

SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 21:23 – 24:51; Mark 11:27-13:37; Luke 20:1-21:36

Matthew 231322AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT

Wow, and I thought yesterday was tense! I was shaking from head to toe when Jesus started to overturn those tables and was shouting like a madman! Part of me was scared that the Romans, perched in towers overlooking the Temple complex, would descend on us and crush us right then and right there. The other part of me was excited because Jesus was finally showing the zeal that we have been taught that the Messiah would have. I began to wonder if, perhaps Jesus was this Messiah…cleansing the House of God before purging Israel of her enemies.

But today Jesus started teaching really strange things! He spoke in parables that were set up to make the Pharisees look bad. He compared the Pharisees to a group of murderous farm tenants who refused to give the farm owner his due and killed anyone the farm owner sent them…including his own son! Jesus went on to flat-out curse the Pharisees and the scribes shouting, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.”

You could just feel the tension in the air. The religious leaders looked beyond mad. If looks could kill…well you know how the phrase goes. Then, Jesus questioned their knowledge of the very scriptures they are well versed in. He asked them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?” I got the real sense that he was referring to himself! Was he saying that he was going to be rejected and die? How could he be the Messiah and die? How was that even possible if the Messiah was supposed to free Israel from oppression? Why would this “Messiah” curse our religious leaders? Wouldn’t the Messiah focus his energy on Rome?

REFLECTION

What are your expectations of Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? Do you find that your “Jesus” falls in line with what you think he should be? When you hear or read Jesus’ words of chastisement, who do you envision Jesus talking to? Is he talking about “them”, or is he talking about “us”? Is he talking about “you” or is he talking about “me”?

On this Holy Tuesday, let us remember Jesus’ warnings to the religious leaders of the day. Will we continue to cross land and sea to create converts to OUR way? Will we look like we are righteous on the outside, when in reality we are dead on the inside? Will we be the ones who reject the stone only to be crushed by it? Or will we lay down OUR way and make GOD’s way the cornerstone of our faith? What is God’s way, “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

PRAYER

Lord, humble me and become the cornerstone of my faith. Let me drop my religion and pick up your love, compassion and mercy in its stead. Amen.