On the Sabbath (Saturday) before his crucifixion on Friday, Jesus reached Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, and stayed in Bethany with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Crowds hurried there — some to see Jesus; others to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead a few weeks before.
ON PALM SUNDAY, Jesus walked from Bethany with his disciples and admirers. He neared Jerusalem, coming to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Jesus told two disciples where to find the donkey he would ride into Jerusalem (Matt. 21).
Jesus fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV).
Mark and Luke mention the donkey but not the colt. Jesus perhaps rode the donkey first and the young colt later. Matthew recorded the fulfillment of prophecy. Mark and Luke pointed only to Jesus’ kingly status by riding on a colt.
Folk waved palm fronds as Jesus entered Jerusalem. Jewish leaders grew angrier when people called Jesus the Messiah. Jesus and his disciples spent the night in Bethany.
MONDAY: Jesus returned to Jerusalem on Monday. Along the way, he cursed a fig tree because it had leaves but failed to bear fruit. Real faith is more than outward appearance and will produce godly fruit. Perhaps the fig tree represented Israel’s spiritually dead religious leaders.
CLEANING HOUSE: Arriving at the Temple, Jesus drove out buyers, sellers, and money-changers in his second cleansing of the Temple.
“He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of thieves.’”
Some Gentiles of Bethsaida sought out their friends Philip and Andrew (disciples), wanting to see Jesus. Philip and Andrew brought the Greeks to Jesus, who was happy to meet them. He told them, “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified.” Jesus compared himself to a grain of wheat that must be planted before it yields a harvest.
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24 NIV). Jesus and his disciples spent the night in Bethany.
TUESDAY: Passing the withered fig tree on their way, Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem, where some members of the Sanhedrin questioned Jesus about his authority chase out buyers and sellers from the Temple.
(The term "Sanhedrin" is from a Greek word meaning “assembly” or “council,” sources say. The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel, made up of 70 men and the high priest. These leaders later turned Jesus over to Roman authorities to be tried and crucified. The Sanhedrin had no legal authority to put someone to death. They had to appeal to their Roman rulers who could carry out the death penalty.)
ONE QUESTION: “And when Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’”
Jesus answered cleverly.
“I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things,” he said. “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?”
Uh-oh. They were at a loss to answer. They privately discussed it: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’”
“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things,” Jesus said.
CAESAR’S COIN: As Jesus taught the crowds, the Pharisees joined with the Herodians to try to trick Jesus. Herodians were Jews who sympathized with the Roman government and Greek social customs Herod had introduced.
“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” they asked Jesus.
“Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax,” Jesus said.
They brought him a denarius, a standard Roman silver coin worth about $2.60 in U.S. precious metal value in 2021. Jesus said to them as they looked at the coin, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”
“Caesar’s,” they said.
“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” he said to them
They marveled and went away. But Jesus knew his death was near.
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