Holy Week | Monday

INTRODUCTION

Holy Week (or Passion Week) begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday). These are some of the most sacred days on the Christian calendar. I will release a blog post each day this week for you to use as a devotional guide. These posts will contain Bible readings, critical explanations of the text, devotional thoughts, and a prayer. So, please join me as we examine what Jesus was up to during Holy Week.

View previous posts: Palm Sunday

MONDAY

You can read about Monday of Holy Week in the following passages: Matthew 21:12-22, Mark 11:12-19, Luke 19:45-48.

On Monday morning, Jesus and his disciples head back to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus becomes hungry. Seeing a fig tree with leaves, in the distance, he goes to it. But the tree hasn’t produced any fruit. So, he curses the fig tree, saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” This is most likely a foreshadowing of his judgement on the Jewish leaders, who appeared to be spiritual but lacked any real spiritual fruit.

Jesus’ next move is less ambiguous. Having arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus “entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to 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.’ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.” (Mark 11:15b-18)

Jesus cleanses the temple because it is supposed to be a place of prayer and true worship, but the Jewish leaders had turned into a way to make money. The temple was meant to draw people from all nations to purity of God, but the impurity of the Jewish authorities had smeared its purpose.

“Jesus contrasts the fruitless temple, signified by cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple, with sincere trust in God. Only through faith in God and his work do followers bear acceptable fruit of worship, prayer, and godliness.” – The Gospel Transformation Bible (notes on Mark 11:12-25)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS AND A PRAYER

Jesus is serious about true worship and prayer in his people. After all, his people are the temple of the Lord now. 

“¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, ¹⁸ and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’
^7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of bodyand spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1)

By the work of the Spirit, we are all being gloriously transformed into sons and daughters of God—the temple of the living God. Here, in 2 Corinthians, Paul calls us to live lives based on this new reality that we have in Christ, not on our good works or ability to be great but by abiding in Jesus and bearing fruit, which is how we glorify the Father and prove to be Jesus’ disciples (John 15:7-8).

“The basis for obedience to this command is not moralism (living morally in order to be loved by God) but the gospel (living morally because we are already loved by God). We are to be set apart (6:17) since we have these promises (7:1). The grounds for our obedience are God’s new covenant promises that are fulfilled through Christ by the Spirit. We should refuse to identify and partner with idols because “we are the temple of the living God” (6:16), not because we are meritoriously becoming the temple of the living God. We ought not to touch any unclean thing because we are God’s sons and daughters, not because we are able by our own efforts to achieve access to his family (6:18). Grace is the fuel for our obedience.” – The Gospel Transformation Bible (notes on 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)

Let us not make the temple of the Lord—our bodies—a den of robbers (people seeking selfish gain through any means necessary). Rather, let’s present our bodies, our whole life, to the Lord, in true, spiritual worship. 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for saving me. Thank you for being faithful to not only begin the good work in me but bring it to completion, at the day of Christ’s return, also. Help me today to live as your temple. Purify my thoughts and actions. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness, that I may live today in a manner worthy of the gospel. I love you. Thank you for your love. Amen.

For further learning, check out this video on Monday of Holy Week by The Gospel Coalition.