I’m departing from our format for a week for several reasons, but the reason underneath the human reason is that I do believe the LORD wants you to watch this from Paige Benton Brown on the last week of Jesus. It’s the best message I’ve ever seen and it is only on You-Tube until this Tuesday night, March 9th. So (The human reason is that all my posts for upcoming weeks have disappeared due to tech reasons we are trying to solve! I am also publishing this on Saturday in case we don’t have our tech troubles solved and I don’t want to wake up to find this too has disappeared.) Paige has been doing an overview of the whole Bible, and it has been tremendous. She’s covering the New Testament in two weeks. Did you know that all of the gospels spend their 2nd half on the last week of Jesus? I didn’t realize that! I didn’t realize that the bulk of his parables were given in the last week, first to the scoffers as an offer of salvation, and then to His own, to warn them to be ready for the biggest surprise of all — His Return! You can see it in Luke, who gives us an orderly account, but it is not so clear in the others. There are many other surprises you will hear about. Paige says Jesus’ whole life has been one big: SURPRISE. Or Whaaaaaaat?
Nothing about Jesus is what people expected.
It begins with a King in a Manger!
When He enters Jerusalem for HIs coronation march it is not on a white horse, but a donkey!
And the surprises that were all through His life crescendo in this last week.
Surprise!
Surprise!
Surprise!
Surprise!
His crown is not of gold, but of thorns
And, He is not dead, He is Risen!
Here is her message — it’s an hour and a half, so if you want to take it in segments, do so. But take good notes, and finish watching and taking notes by Tuesday night, because the video will disappear, like Cinderella at the Ball.
worddocumentJesusFinalWeek
Sunday: Overview of Jesus Life up to Final Week
- What stands out to you from the above and why?
- Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life — from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible.” What surprises does she bring out?
Monday: Palm Sunday, Clearing the Temple, The Cursing of the Fig Tree
3. Why is this “coronation march” on Palm Sunday so surprising?
4. Why do you know Jesus is not the surprise victim of an execution?
5. How had the religious leaders corrupted the purpose of the Temple? How were they like “Ticketmaster?”
6. After Jesus clears the temple of all the corrupt leaders, who comes to Him according to Matthew 21:14?
Last week Paige pointed out the six groups to whom Jesus kept ministering: the poor, the handicapped, the outcasts, the women, the children, and the Samaritans. Anyone who knew their need.
7. What is surprising about His cursing of the fig tree?
Tuesday: Pharisees and Sadducees Unite (Nancy Pelosi and Lindsey Graham team up) and Jesus Invites Them Again Through Parables
8. What brings the enemies of Jesus together? (How surprising is this?)
9. What questions do they ask to try to trap Him?
10. What parables does He speak to them to try to show them the trouble they are in if they do not repent?
11. She closes with two “wedding parables.” What are they and what is the point of them?
12. After the parables Jesus warns the people about their leaders through the woes of Matthew 23. What are some of them?
Wednesday: Jesus Speaks To His Disciples and Us — Be Ready for The Biggest Surprise of All — It Will Come Like A Thief in the Night
13. The disciples are impressed with Jerusalem’s magnificent temple — what does Jesus tell them? (Mark 13) What does He tell them will happen to this Temple? How was this fulfilled?
14. How does this destruction foreshadow God’s final judgment?
15. He now speaks to them in parables which all speak of being ready for the King to return. What were some of those parables?
16. In the Upper Room at the last supper, He shows them what we should be doing to be ready. What is it?
17. What are some of the human reasons Jesus was betrayed and crucified? What was the ultimate reason?
Thursday: Passover and Trial
18 How does Jesus re-arrange everything at this last Passover supper?
19. What does Paige think Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to come to Gethsemane?
20. Why is His suffering so great in Gethsemane? What does “the cup” mean?
21. Why is the trial so weird? Why does He have to be convicted both by Rome and the Jews?
22. All four gospels show Peter’s denial. “While Peter is denying outside, Jesus is inside not denying but preparing to die for His closest followers. Paige said, “There is no such thing as a committed Christian, only a committed God.” Do you agree or not? Explain.
Friday: Crucifixion and Resurrection
23. What stood out to you about Paige’s description of the crucifixion and why?
24. These things were said by those watching the crucifixion. Explain how they were ironically true:
- He saved others, but he cannot save himself.
- Let his blood be on us and our children.
25. When Jesus cried “My God My God” He didn’t use the word “Abba.” But when He said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, ” He did! Comments?
26. What are some of the ways God confirmed this truly was His Son when Jesus died?
27. Post Resurrection Appearances — comment on anything you learned from:
- the “Marys”
- the walk to Emmaus
- Thomas
28. Anything else you want to share
Saturday: We are Jesus’ Joy — Is Jesus Our Joy?
29. How would you respond to this?
30. What is your take-a-way from this week and why?
Back, Lord willing, to the Puritans next week!
133 comments
Dee, God is orchestrating something here and it good! This is an amazing learning opportunity to give Lent even deeper meaning for us all ahead of our celebrating the Passion and Holy Week. Surprise!!!
Yes — surprise! 🙂
I have listened to Paige Brown’s video on the Passion Week already as per your recommendation on Facebook and, just let me say, I am PASSIONATE about it! It is great! I wish everyone would listen. It’s too bad that it disappears on Tuesday. I wonder why. We all need access to more great women Bible study teachers!
Also, I’m sad to hear about your technological issues. I’m praying you solve them soon! I’ve been there before as well.
Thank You, Diane.
Paige says it is her idea so people should stop calling the church to complain! 🙂 My theory is that she is truly humble and not realizing how many people are watching and want this and is just wanting her class not to get behind. She did say that they may do something to make this more permanent, so it might be getting through to her!
I subscribed to Paige’s YouTube channel to see more of her teaching. Why are people complaining about her videos? Unless they want to silence a voice for God. I truly hope they can find a way to make her teaching more available.
Diane, I think people are calling the church complaining that the videos are taken down so quickly.
Dawn, yes. I reread the statement about complaints and also think that it must be that many people are complaining about her taking down the videos too quickly. I do wonder why she has made the decision to take them down. There could be many reasons. I pray she will follow God’s leading in this.
I am almost to the hour timeline of Paige’s YouTube message. WOW! I would say, YES, LORD, THANK YOU. This is so powerful.
So glad, Bing!
The most powerful thing that stood out to me was that Jesus was not a victim, he choose to be crucified. All of his life responses prepared him for this final time. By choosing to follow through with this, it gave him power and strength that a victim does not have. A true call and strength (that today gives me access to him because my strength comes from him) because Jesus loves me so much is truly humbling and unfathomable to try to comprehend that love when I think of how hard it is to die to myself and give up things-earthly things. I know I have spoke of this (I think) before, but I was abused in high school by a teacher, became pregnant, and gave the baby up for adoption (only to have the father fight me in court and win). I just turned 60 (February 9) and I was 18 when I told my family I was pregnant (February 9). I have been a victim of that situation since then and realize that I perceived myself and lived my life as a victim long before that in my family of 5 sisters. When I turned 40, I was at a concert and heard the song “It is Well with My Soul” and I was not peaceful in my soul, always searching, always longing. At the time, I committed to Grow Up and not perceive myself as the baby of the family. To conclude this story, my son married a woman who had a 4 year old. Her family is not like our family—mother died of drug overdose when she was 19 and her father was shot (gang related) when she was 25. Initially, accepting her into our family was something I struggled with because “I” did not want to go there. Through that struggle, God brought to my heart that I am no more worthy than her—n fact, the sin in my life was worse because my sin was a self righteous sin. I am no better and God died for her, but he really died for me and my heart. (The Shallow study was so powerful at this time, Dee.). They just had a baby this past January and I went out to help care for that child. During that time, he also adopted the 4 year old. It was very emotional for me as I had fought the father of my child in court in the same state that my son was going to court to have the father sign off for the adoption. I prayed for a redemptive ending, that my son would not lose in court like I did. He and his wife did not lose, but that is not the surprise of the story. His adoption brought about complete healing in my life. I no longer perceive myself as a victim and have an unconditional love and mercy for my grandchildren and children. It is a freedom I have never experienced and my past has no hold on me. And the biggest surprise—his adoption became legal on—-February 9!!! What a God of surprises and. I keep saying that over and over. And another surprise, (which is so scriptural) is how he is/will use my son’s wife and her son to bring about healing. I have tried to put into words my experience of the healing and the journey, but then I found Tim Kellers written sermon on Leah from our Shallows study and it explained the process in my life, exactly as Leah. I have learned the secret is praising God and thanking him for all things because they draw me near to him. I know this is very wordy and a long testimony, but, your studies Dee, have guided me on this journey. Thank you for your insight, your wisdom, and your desire to honor God through these Bible Studies. I encourage everyone on their journey who have not experienced this freedom yet—do not give up, keep searching, and God will open your eyes and totally surprise you.
Oh my Becky — what a redemptive story from our loving God. Thanks so much for coming on and telling it!
Becky, Jesus was not a victim, he chose to be crucified. stood out to me too! Thank you for sharing your story-God truly is good and cares so deeply for us.
Oh, Becky! Thank you so much for sharing this story of God’s redemption. How this has blessed my soul today.
Becky, I am at church right now waiting on our first congregants and reading your post! What a redemptive story brought about by God only. Those many years that healing sounded elusive were God’s mysterious ways of bringing surprises now in your life and the lives of your family! Only God can do that. Thanks so much for sharing. What a beautiful way of ministry to us here who are/will be reading your testimony.
Becky: thank you so much for sharing this story. God is so faithful to save us. Such a powerful testimony to His life at work in you and your family. He intentionally takes us back to our deepest places of wounding to rewrite our stories, doesn’t He?
Even though I have not walked your path of pain, I so empathize with you saying you didn’t want to go there. We really don’t, do we? And He knows that also. Imagine how His heart must ache with ours as we think He is out to hurt us, when in fact He is out to heal us. He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves.
Thank you for being so open. Your story truly blesses and affirms me in Jesus. God bless you and your family.
Becky, I am so glad God brought you healing from your inner pain. I love your story. Thank you for sharing it and for encouraging us all in our journey toward healing. Often the road is hard and long. But God is always there with us.
Becky, I so want to thank you for sharing your beautiful testimony and hard-won freedom with us! Wow. Though I have never experienced the abuse you write about, some things in your story resonate with me, like living like a victim in my family of origin with my sisters. (I think you are the youngest sister and I am, too. It took me well into adulthood, really only recently, to fully understand the ways that I was, and have been, bullied and mistreated by one of my older sisters, really for much of my life). And how often I fall into that victim mindset, even now, and how often I have told God that I want to “grow up”. Thank you too for your words, “I encourage everyone on their journey who have not experienced this freedom yet – do not give up, keep searching, and God will open your eyes and totally surprise you.”
oh Becky. Thank you for this–there is so much here that speaks to my heart. Thank you for sharing so vulnerably and showing us the beautiful work He has done in your heart. He never gives up on us, and is faithful to do His healing work.
Hello,
I have been so blessed by this blog through the years, though I do not post. Thank you, Dee, for serving the Lord and His people through your ministry. Paige Brown’s lesson was such a blessing and encouragement to me. The Lord has me serving Him as a Mental Health and Substance abuse counselor at a human services agency (my mission field) where I rarely get to say the name of Jesus, but I see Him working. I see a lot of suffering and ugliness. I hear His name cursed and I hear the belief in Jesus discredited by educated psychiatric professionals. Oh, how I long for them to come to know Him! God uses this blog to encourage me. Thank you.
This does not need to be published. I just wanted to share my thanks.
Blessed to hear of you serving in mental health, Jane. I have walked through therapy for CPTSD- with unbelievers, following God’s prompting in that. I had the privilege of testifying to Jesus through EMDR, when my visions of Jesus stunned my therapists. They watched Him enter my most traumatic memories to rewrite them in His truth.
At the same time, they listened as I shared of spiritual abuse and yet of how Jesus remained the strength of my heart as my own heart gave way.
Christians advised me against seeing a non-Christian. Jesus compelled me to go and let Him speak – through them and in and through me. We met with Jesus in the most unlikely of places.
May Jesus move powerfully in your midst. May His Spirit move palpably in and through you. May He fill your heart and mouth with His Word and may you too see His Presence in those set before you. May you recognize His seed present in those you least expect it to be present and may you speak aloud what you see in them: may they recognize Jesus in themselves through the affirmation you speak and may they be awakened to the Good News of their salvation in Christ Jesus through the touch of the Holy Spirit.
May God set a table before you in the presence of your enemies, anointing your head with oil and causing your cup to overflow in abundance. May it make those around you jealous and hungry to hear more about this Jesus of yours.
Oh Jane — this was published so you must have signed up somehow and it recognized you — but I’m so glad for these sisters on the blog to know what you do for they will pray. What an important rescuing ministry you have and I do pray for you to have opportunities to tell them of the One who can truly rescue them eternally. Thanks for writing!
Jane, your work is so important. Thank you for doing it. I’m glad the blog has blessed you; it had me too 😉. I will remember to keep you in my prayers.
Jane, you are a gift to those who suffer this way and to their families-your ministry can impact so many through just one person. I am thrilled to hear you are serving this way and believe counselors like you are on the front lines. satan likes to start with our thought life in his desire to destroy us.
Jane, thank you for the work that you do. It is so needed and important. In my family, we lost my nephew to a drug overdose as he suffered from addiction. How might it have been different if he had gone for treatment. I am glad that you find needed encouragement here to find the strength you need to do your job. May those you work with see His light in you and be drawn to Him.
Thank you, Jane, for sharing the story of your mission field. It is such a beautiful way to serve Jesus. You are truly doing the work of the Lord and giving the gift of yourself for God’s children in need. I pray that your work with these dear people will lead them to Jesus. It is so good to know how to pray for others; I was blessed to read your post.
Thank you, dear Dee, for sharing Paige Brown’s powerful lesson. I listened to some sections of it several times. I hope they make it available again. There have been so many lessons from your blog this week. And so many lessons in the wonderful comments. I am praying for all of your technical problems to be resolved.
1. What stands out to you from the above and why?
This video was such a precious gift of affirmation. As I listened to the way the religious leaders treated Jesus I was just so deeply moved. I recognized very, very similar things in what unfolded at my old church as Jesus moved through me. I didn’t really even understand it at the time, but He was purposely putting my weakness on display for all to see and right there He was declaring the true Gospel. Because in “the place that was supposed to be bringing people to God was barring people from the worship of God…She has been prostituted away by those who vowed to guarantee her safety.”
But the sad thing was that, like Peter, as Jesus began to tell the Gospel through my life, I was ashamed and afraid to be counted among Him. I didn’t expect to be humiliated so openly in choosing to follow Jesus: and yet isn’t that the path of the Cross? And yet right there, as I denied Him to be approved of, I was repeatedly led to open repentance, so that Jesus could declare through me: “There is no such thing as a committed Christian. There is only a committed God.” And so that I could be reminded that I only stand righteous by the blood of the Lamb.
This was such an incredible gift to be reminded of, especially after what unfolded this week and how I again began to look to that idol of approval and how Jesus humbled me to remind me that HE is the only One I should be looking to and that when I look to myself instead, like Peter incidentally also did even after those three denials, as he sat with the Pharisees, I am a hypocrit. I am preaching myself and self-righteousness and NOT Jesus, when I do this. God have mercy on my soul.
The video reminded me so much of this poem God had me write after I went through the spiritual abuse:
TO GOD ALONE, ARISE
A Temple so glorious
Colors so vibrant, victorious
Pride we there beheld
But He did order: destroy.(Mark 13:2, John 2:19)
For we Your People
We look at the outward
Worship our idols
So rip and strip,
He did order our pride.(1 Samuel 16:7)
Our knees there to bow
And tongue to confess
Holy and pleasing
Broken and bowed.
We look to the outward
But He, our Father
Looks to the heart
True and proper worship to raise. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Our sacrifice
A broken Spirit
A contrite heart
He will not despise.(Psalm 51:17)
This His voice from heaven does raise
“This is My Son
Whom I do love
With Him I am well pleased”(Matthew 3:17)
A Temple so glorious
Colors so vibrant, victorious
Pride of the Father beheld
Restored unto fullness –
Christ He now unveils
A living sacrifice
Holy and pleasing
To God alone
Arise. (Romans 12:1)
And this Scripture:
1 Peter 1: 23 – 25 (ESV)
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you.
What also struck me was the part about being ready for the Master’s return and how we should be about the Master’s business. While I was out doing the shopping, I had been thinking about how my Mum also doubted how on earth she and my Dad could follow Jesus’ call to Germany and so she prayed for God to send an invitation to visit. He sent two letters, within the two week deadline she gave him. But that still wasn’t enough, so she asked Him for an unsollicited phone call. She got two within the two week deadline she gave Him: it’s then she said yes.
I suddenly realized: I’ve been feeling so stuck. Jesus asked me to begin a coaching business to teach high schoolers to write and yet I am now teaching IB English because that’s the door God opened, but I still don’t know what step to take next. I have this deep deep yearning to live out the original vision God gave me. Why? Because in that vision I saw that writing bringing young seeking people to Jesus.
But I have just felt so discouraged, and have felt so stuck, but in hearing that call to be about the Master’s business, I realized: but all I need to do is ask, like my Mum. Not just get discouraged because I don’t know what to do and then think that He must have given up on me because I am such a mess (devil’s lie). Instead I can ask HIM to move and SHOW me that HE is in this.
And the same is true of my writing. He has given me visions of two books- (one with my spiritual Mom) and yet, I’ve sat there so discouraged. And why do I even bother is the recurring thought, when no one even reads anything I write anyway? But with that too: isn’t it God’s way of saying: and now let ME open the doors, let ME do this so you can’t claim ANY of the glory.
Be about the Master’s business. To be about His business I need to lay down everything I have “tried to do” and invite HIM to move on my behalf, like my Mum did.
Anna, I love what you wrote towards the end. (Well, other things too, but have to just comment on this…) why bother when no one reads what you write? I truly empathize with you, having been ‘set on a shelf’ more than ten years ago. I’ve had to come to where God owns what I do and not me. That He decides what kind of impact and when. That my responsibility is to be faithful to what He calls me to do. Period. Without analyzing it for how it makes sense to me, or how I can feel good about it because of positive strokes. He has repeatedly brought before me people who labored faithfully for years and never on this earth knew the results of their labor. I want so much to DO for Him. And He repeatedly brings me back to just being with Him. Not to say that He will work with you in the same way, but just that I get your struggle….
Thanks, Mary. I remember thinking about the life of Vincent van Gogh recently and how his pain + faith caused him to paint the beauty of God’s creation. His work was unappreciated in his lifetime but now touches millions – as does his life story.
You know, that’s a good place for me to be. To just paint the beauty of God’s creation through the words I write: to celebrate Him. Even to leave those words for my girls to one day read is a huge gift. That they would see the beauty of Jesus.
I was happier when I was “on the shelf”. I hate putting myself out there because I immediately gravitate to looking for affirmation and it’s never enough and doesn’t fill me. When Jesus had me writing privately, I was in my happy space. I love just writing alone with Him and having no one reading, just Him. I miss that.
Anna, as I read through your post, and your reply to Mary….first, I loved your poem you shared, and its insights into pride (our pride and then how the pride of God is revealed “Pride of the Father beheld”). Then you talk about your love of writing and your wanting to teach writing and perhaps your two book ideas, your struggles with idols of approval (which we all have), but then in your reply to Mary, you write that when Jesus had you writing privately, you were in your happy space, and you miss that. Maybe that would be a good starting place? To do the very thing in which you found so much joy, writing alone with Him, and then see what overflows from there?
Thank you so much, Susan. Your kindness in taking the time to see me today and to help me forward makes me cry. It’s been a hard day and I just cried out in prayer, moments ago, for just one tiny piece of encouragement from the Lord. Thank you for being His answer to me. You are such a blessing.
I am going to take that time just to write in that happy space, with no pressure, expectations or fear.
Oh Anna, I’m sorry you’re having a hard day. I need to remember that where you live, you’re ahead of me by several hours….I am humbled to have God give you encouragement, through me.
Anna, I really resonate with your statement, “I immediately gravitate toward looking for affirmation.” I just hate it when someone good is done through me, and split seconds later, I’ve got it all twisted up within me to be all about me and my glory. Sometimes I think that is why I’m still on the shelf; He can’t trust me to keep His glory His.
Another thing I kept thinking of as I listened to the video was of reading this testimony from a man who suffered from depression and how his pastor invited him to LEAD the church’s Bible study. As he led that study God lifted him out of his depression, but not only that! Those present were overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus and the way Jesus spoke to them through this openly broken man.
I thought to myself: wouldn’t it be so beautiful if more pastors started doing that?! Trusting the Word of God above all else. Believing that in our weakness God’s power is perfected. Oh how we would watch God move. Powerfully.
Anna, my favorite messages are the ones where the speaker is visibly affected by the truth they are sharing! It is so real and helps you know that it is really God speaking through them. And the ones where they are brave enough to let God’s Spirit lead, rather than having their own messages planned out months in advance. Not that He can’t still speak through that as well.
SUNDAY
This teaching on the last week of Christ was powerful to realize and better understand the resolute Christ who set his face to go to the Cross. I feel at times the church presents him as struggling to carry out his passion to die for the souls of mankind. Paige said there is no committed Christian. There is only a committed God. And our God in the form of a humanity committed to redeem us to Himself. I am in awe of that.
Jesus was the Messiah which in Hebrew means King. He made it known He was the Messiah and so the disciples and his followers were thinking He would take over Rome and set himself up as their King. But the big surprise Paige brings out is that Jesus comes to redeem the sinner and not to take over in power as expected. In the final days of Jesus he enters Jerusalem and instead of conquering he is crucified. He set his face to go to Jerusalem because it was planned. God’s plan. Jesus came to be the sacrifice. He did not come to crush but to be crushed. It took everyone by surprise.
So good Bev. I love how she said surprise surprise SURPRISE!
Bev: why do you think this is?
I feel at times the church presents him as struggling to carry out his passion to die for the souls of mankind.
Anna,
Through the years I have heard it taught or maybe more implied that Jesus struggled to go to the Cross and suffer and die because of the terrible physical suffering of crucifixion. I read years ago and it might have been from JI Packer or now that I think about it J Oswald Sanders. Whichever one they felt Christ’s greatest struggle in Gethsemane might have been that he feared he might not finish what He had come to do in the flesh. And Paige made it clear that the ultimate struggle was the separation from His Father that had to take place. The comments from what Joni Eareckson Tada wrote were so incredibly powerful to the truth of what Christ suffered in that separation. I really appreciated Paige’s teaching that Christ settled going to the Cross in the Garden of Gethsemane. Physical death wasn’t the ultimate test for Jesus. He knew where he was going at that point. Just like with us as believers physical death sets us free. But Jesus suffered being completely separated from God Whom he had been part of from eternity past and God’s wrath being poured out on Him. Because of Jesus we will never experience that separation or God’s wrath. So many modern Christians are oblivious to the depth of it. I was for far too long. But now I feel humbled and broken at the reality but yet wanting to explode in joy and praise to Him!!
Thank you for sharing this, Bev. I too have read and even shared that perspective myself: of the struggling Jesus.
I once read someone teach that that separation couldn’t have happened because the Father, Son and Spirit are One and have always been One and will always be One. He believed that the sin being placed on Jesus is what made Jesus feel to the depths the separation that we feel when we sin. And that the Father didn’t forsake Jesus, but that Jesus felt that forsakenness, becoming our sin.
I am going to read each passage of Gesthemene in the Bible again and ask Jesus to open my heart in a deeper way to His sacrifice and love for us. I want His Word to speak His truth to me.
I am becoming so weary of all these different teachings and interpretations. Oh may Jesus open my heart.
BTW how did He open your heart to this?
Hmmm, Anna Good question. As I think about coming to better understand this it isn’t just a certain verse that I can go to and verify my “position” theologically but more of a combination of the scriptures, good teaching and bible study about Christ as He reveals himself in the Word, meditating on these thoughts and growing in my love for Jesus and how my personal intimacy with him reveals more of Who he is. Wow long answer (-: This teaching by Paige Brown served me well in what I had come to feel about Jesus in the Garden on his way to the Cross
Rereading each passage in the gospels about the garden of Gethsemane is an excellent challenge for me too. A good idea. You said you are weary of all the different teachings and interpretations. I think some times we can get hung up on trying to have the right theology and lose sight of the heart of what we are being taught. Yes we need good theology but not all believers share the same theological thinking and positions but we can still agree on the basic and clear Gospel of Salvation and we dare not dismiss brothers and sisters in Christ who vary in theology with us. Sadly some people have good theology but don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. In the end we have to believe and choose Jesus.
Oh this is so good for my heart, Bev. As I listened to my youngest read from her Bible, I realized something. Because we grow in relationship, we have our eyes opened, more and more.
The rate that happens is according to the measure of faith God gifts us. You catching onto my weariness was so key. It’s tied up with bitterness. Bitterness of being taught something about God that isn’t true so many times. But your observation returned me to what Jesus says: that we aren’t to get upset, but to realize we have been given different measures of faith and that many of these teachers aren’t intentionally deceiving: just as I haven’t intentionally deceived others at various times (recently too), but HAVE done so, without realizing so. There is so much grace for me, so why don’t I offer that same grace to my brothers and sisters, who are seeking the LORD just like me.
In some places I am blind and need their sight. In some places they are blind and need my sight. But if I come in with that weariness and bitterness, I am blinded to receiving what God wants to give me.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for pressing into Jesus and persevering with me in this. I LOVE to learn and grow but have a great tendancy to self-sabotage because I am so afraid of being deceived again, like I was as a kid: a deception that very nearly killed me. But even there, I need to remember that Jesus has used that to grow me in His mercy, to humble me and show me how deep His love goes.
God bless you for being His kindness to me. Blessed to call you my sister in Christ: full of His wisdom.
What stands out to you from the above and why?
Wow and double WOW! So many things stood out to me! It must be the retorect of the Denomination I grew up in that has fogged my view of the final week of Christ’s life on Earth. I did not get the whole picture of what was happening, when Jesus cleansed the Temple, “My House was meant to be a House of Prayer, but you have made it a den of theives!” Jesus drew the blind, lame and the children ( who were not allowed in the Temple) unto Him. He called the Holy people out and revealed their empty hearts.
“He endured the Cross for the Joy that was set before Him.” I never realized that I was that Joy! I feel like my blinders have been removed! Hallelujah!
Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life — from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible.” What surprises does she bring out?
The Last Supper… I never thought about it from the perspective of the Jewish people. It was truly the last Passover, they were now the People of the Cross! He took the articles of the Passover and turned them into “do this in Remembrance of Me”.
I have been so ignorant of the Story of Jesus, having viewed it from a Western mindset my whole life.
Jesus was not a victim of His circumstances. He was totally in charge! This plan, this rescue mission was written in the Throne room of Heaven!
I never noticed that Jesus did not refer to His Father God as Father while on the Cross. “My God, my God why have You forsaken Me?” The “Cup” that Jesus referred to earlier represented God’s Wrath against all sin. The quote from the book by Joni Erickson Tada was quite profound, describing the experience Jesus went through for us of enduring God’s wrath.
I am praying for the eyes of my heart to see the Ressurected Jesus and celebrate Him as the Joy set before me! HALLELUJAH!
Thank-you so much Dee for sharing this amazing video! Holy week has been totally illuminated in my mind!
Oh Lydia — you bring me great joy with your joy. You got down some wonderful things to always remember!
Lydia, I can “feel” your excitement and “surprise” (!) as I read through your post! Yes, isn’t it wonderful that no matter how old we get, we can still uncover and discover new things about Jesus and be illuminated and surprised! I also never really thought much about this: that we are His joy….to make is personal, as you do, “I never realized that I was that Joy!” And new to me, too, is the realization that the resurrected Jesus is the joy set before me! Thank you for bringing all of this out! I need to remember that especially, when I’m feeling sad, disappointed, discouraged….to try to look past the obstacle in front of me to the Joy that is set before me – the living Jesus.
So much of what hit your heart most, blessed mine the most, Lydia. Thank you for sharing. It helps me see that there are many other churches like my former church that have not been teaching/living out the true Gospel.
I was a blinded woman who went to seek her LORD in the Temple and was turned away and cast as evil and sinful because I was so aware of my sin disease and my weakness. I was hungry for God’s presence and continued cleansing, but when I shared my weakness and confessed my sins it was given as proof for why God couldn’t have chosen me and when I began to think I would be better off withdrawing to heal before engaging with others, the church leaders affirmed that and seemed to be glad to be rid of me and “my problems”.
I hope you or your family members haven’t experienced these kind of things also. That would break my heart.
God’s been breaking my heart in repentance and now I am praising Him with you, Lydia. For He has carried our sin and pain to that Cross. It’s been nailed there, not to be picked up again. The holes in His hands and feet declare us free: free of our sin and pain. Praise Him for all the ways He is moving to heal and restore us unto Himself, to rejoice in the life He is unveiling more and more.
1. What stood out in the introduction and why?
I had never before thought of all the ‘surprises’, even though I was well aware that Jesus wasn’t what people expected. Somehow, I missed the surprise factor!
2. In Paige’s review, what ‘surprise’ does she bring out?
The concept that while Jews were familiar with both a conquering king and a suffering servant, no one ever considered they might be one and the same. Even John the Baptist was blindsided. He said with great assurance, ‘Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,’ yet he still looked for Jesus to be a political force.
I think he, and others, projected their own internalized and subconscious expectations onto Jesus. Jesus didn’t go around meeting the expectations of any but the Father. That confused and infuriated the people. I do feel sorry for them, though. After the exile, they felt they were finally correct about what God wanted from them, and it was obedience. They figured the exile happened because they hadn’t done a better job of obeying the law, and they weren’t going to have it happen again. But while they initially fell off on one side by presuming on God’s promises to them, this time they fell off in a different direction, forgetting all about His promises. In both cases, they thought the external was what God wanted from them. They totally missed that God wanted them, and that He also wanted them to want Him. The truth was right there in the Scriptures, but it didn’t match their ideas, so they rejected Him. I would have done the same thing, and I know because I still do it today. I err either by thinking I can do as I please without consequences, or by not believing His promises. I act like it is all about the external, and all the while, God is hammering that He wants my heart. I just never thought of attaching the word ‘surprise’ to it.
I loved that too, Mary!
Mary, I’m with you – I never thought of all of the unexpected in Jesus as “surprises”. I missed the surprise factor, too! And you make a good point here about how when people projected their own expectations onto Jesus (even subconscious ones), it left them confused and angry. I suppose it’s the same thing with us, too….I can project onto Jesus, too, and then end up feeling confused, disappointed, abandoned, and yes, even angry. I also like how you bring out the fact, for them and for us, that “They totally missed that God wanted them, and that He also wanted them to want Him.” If you boil that one statement down, isn’t that what all of life is truly about? If only we could “never mind” all the other stuff in life that gets in the way of that one thing!
“In both cases, they thought the external was what God wanted from them. They totally missed that God wanted them, and that He also wanted them to want Him.” It is so easy to go there, isn’t it? Especially when it’s the way of the world we live in. We don’t want people to see the ugliness inside of us and yet God’s call is to confess that openly before each other also. It’s humbling, isn’t it.
After last week’s study, I suddenly saw the story of Naman in a new light. I’ve always felt so ashamed that I struggle so much with pride, like he did. But last week, I cried as I saw how compassionate God was to Naman, and I wept thinking how after each washing he would have tasted more and more healing from his pride.
And I thought about how He has been so gentle, but firm, and compassionate with me too. It’s been my number one prayer almost daily: please humble me, Lord, you know how prideful my heart is. And I even see Him doing that here. He is helping me wash in His love and approval, to no longer need the world’s. Over and over again.
Anna, I love your insights in Naaman, being progressively healed in his seven times dipping down! I’d never seen that before. Should have… seven being a numerical depiction of perfection.
1. What stands out to you from the above and why?
I can’t believe you lost all your posts!
I don’t have time to take too many notes. I have listened once and have begun again; hoping I can immerse myself in it and remember some along the way. Any idea why she won’t keep the videos up?
2. Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life — from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible.” What surprises does she bring out?
I love the surprise that He comes as a baby, not a traditional king (like David).
The surprise where the shepherds are visited by the angels! Whoa!
He enters Jerusalem on a donkey, not a white horse.
He comes with peasants, not an army.
They wield palm branches, not weapons.
He came to die by choice. He was a volunteer not a victim.
He corrects the money exchangers in the temple by overturning their tables, because they have turned it into a circus. They are taking advantage of the people when they come to offer their sacrifice (think Ticketmaster!).
He is humble, not arrogant.
Wonderful Laura.
My website men seem to think they can help me recover — but appreciate prayers for that!
1. What stands out to you from the above and why?
Oh Dee, I imagine that was so frustrating to see all of your posts, which you had prepared in advance, disappear! I hope and pray they will return….thank you, Dee, for all of your diligence and what I see every week as your highest level of thought and care that you pour into these lessons! I like the idea that everything about Jesus is a “surprise” – not what was expected. What was it like for His friends, to be with Him as He taught, did miracles, and just to hang-out with Him? I suppose it was a relationship like nothing they had ever experienced.
2. Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life – from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible”. What surprises does she bring out?
Paige states that everything about Jesus is a “surprise” – even with the entire Old Testament behind it (His life). I take this to mean that even though all of Scripture is in some way about Him, and there were so many prophecies in the OT about Him, yet even in His fulfillment of them, in the way He fulfilled them, it was a total “surprise”.
Surprise – angels appeared to shepherds in the middle of the night to say that God has been born and is lying in a feeding trough!
Surprise – during His growing-up years, there were many surprises for His own family,
Surprise – Jesus arrives on the scene to be baptized by John the Baptist to begin His public ministry. Jesus goes out to the last prophet, as it were, to be baptized. John is preparing people for Messiah’s coming, not by telling them to get their weapons ready to fight Rome, but rather to repent, to prepare their hearts. And then Jesus is announced by the Father’s voice from heaven: “This is my Beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased. In these words, Paige says that prophetic words from the OT were combined like never before: that of a glorious, reigning David-figure who would come to deliver his people with mighty acts of victory, and the other figure was this enigmatic suffering servant, who is despised by men but is the delight of the Father and who brings internal healing. No one had ever combined those two figures before, but that is who Jesus came to be.
The moment that this is announced, that Jesus is this glorious reigning David figure AND the suffering servant, it is challenged; first by His temptation in the wilderness, in which He was challenged to do this any other way but through the Cross, because then, He could have victory but He would not have gained us.
Even John the Baptist wondered if Jesus was really the Messiah. Yet all of Jesus’ works (healings, cleansings) and His preaching the Good News showed what kind of Deliverer He is – “surprise” – God’s redemptive work plus victory over pain and suffering and death.
Surprise – a Messiah who would come to hang out with prostitutes and sinners, the lame and the blind, the disreputable and the poor. No one who comes to Him is turned away.
There are constant surprises as Jesus reveals who He is and what He is up to.
Such good notes, Susan. You are a student, indeed. My youngest, Annie, has about 25 pages of written notes for each of Paige’s lectures. I tell her I want her notes and toss mine in the trash!
And thanks for your prayers — my website guys found the problem this morning and restored all my posts.
YAY – happy that all of your posts are restored! And Annie….wow, 25 pages of notes!! What I really like about Paige is her excitement – you can hear it as she talks and see it in her face. She makes learning about the Bible anything but boring!
Dee, I’m so glad that your website guys found your posts! Also, can I have Annie’s notes too???? Seriously. I have a friend who is trying to take detailed notes and has run out of time and is so disappointed!! Paige’s lectures are such a wealth of treasures!
I can ask, Diane, but I’ll warn you she is really private. She has to put up with having me as a bragging mom.
Diane, this discussion about notes makes me think of my mom, who took shorthand in high school and often used it in her adult life. I can still see her little papers with all of those symbols on them, which only she knew what words they represented! If only I knew shorthand, it would save a lot of paper and time!
Oh, Susan: that would be super handy!! What a great skill to have mastered. Pity she didn’t teach you.
That is wonderful news, Dee. What a relief! I sometimes wonder whether God allows these type of things to create new opportunities: like you having us watch the video.
I am so thankful you chose to have us do this. I took 24 pages of notes and so much moved my heart, had me again marvel at God’s mercy to me and wrapped me in compassion.
I spent several hours on Sunday sitting with it, stopping it again and again and furiously writing in my journal. I loved the end bit about the missionary and those he shared the death and resurrection of Jesus with.
I also sent the video to several friends. I want to write up my notes in digital form: then I can send that to my friends also.
Thank you again for this and for this space to learn and grow in Jesus.
Good for you, Anna. Way to go!
“What was it like for His friends, to be with Him as He taught, did miracles, and just to hang-out with Him? I suppose it was a relationship like nothing they had ever experienced.”
As I read this Susan, I wondered what it was like for Jesus, the other way around. Imagine how excited He must have been to JOIN us physically like He did. To experience our flesh fully and wholly. For, with a love like His, He can’t help but have been so so excited to be with us. Yes, He carried such an incredibly heavy unimaginable load, but His joy was always us! Us healed and whole and with Him for eternity.
I remember in my intermediate years at school how my Dad taught us in Christian living lessons about the other religions of the world. He told us the one significant difference is that only in Christianity does the God who is worshipped ENTER INTO our suffering. That someone would do that is just so unthinkable. That’s why the Cross just doesn’t make sense without the Holy Spirit opening the eyes of our heart. Oh how I pray our husbands will have that happen soon. Imagine how much they will weep, knowing how loved they are and how God has pursued them through us. I am crying thinking about it.
I never even thought about what it was like for Jesus to join us, in our humanness, so He could get close to us!
2. 2.Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life — from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible.” What surprises does she bring out? Monday: Palm Sunday, Clearing the Temple, The Cursing of the Fig Tree
There were so many she mentioned, but in the interest of brevity, I will only share the one that struck me most: the lame, blind and praising children entering the Temple and Jesus not being offended by them, but drawn to them.
I remember helping out in Sunday school (children’s church) at my old church one day and this little boy was constantly interrupting the elderly teacher who was reading a Bible story. It visibly upset her.
As I sat observing this unfold I felt drawn to the little boy. I went over to him, picked him up and placed him on my lap. His whole demeanour changed. He listened intently and a huge smile spread over his face.
I know that was the heart of Jesus in me drawn to that boy and it also reminds me that this is why we need the whole Body: we need the teachers to share the Word with us and bring the person of Jesus to us, we need the helpers to get in early to turn on the heating and set up the tables, the cookies and juice. We need the thinkers and those who ask questions that make us see things from a new angle, revealing the wisdom and discernment of God. We need the gentle and compassionate ones, who teach us how to see others.
And even though they irritate and grate us; I think we most need the “difficult” people in our midst to remind us of God’s compassion toward us, in those moments that we too are hungry for love and affection and attention that no one else is giving us. To humble us to realize we are all like little children, so in need of our Papa to pick us up and hold us close.
Beautiful picture, Anna, of the little boy and your compassion. And yes, how the whole Body is needed, even the “difficult” people in our midst.
This brings tears. I have felt like one of those difficult people the past few months. Tears because it’s been so difficult to walk through but tears also for the lack of compassion I’ve had for others in that place.
Monday: Palm Sunday, Clearing the Temple, The Cursing of the Fig Tree
3. Why is this “coronation march” on Palm Sunday so surprising?
Because it is the antithesis of what was the usual entry and posture of a King. Normally a king came riding on a white horse in demonstration of his victories. He came with his army of warriors wielding their weapons. Jesus came riding on the foal of a donkey, with a following of peasants, common people and children. They were waving palm branches not weapons.
4. Why do you know Jesus is not the surprise victim of an execution?
He was resolute in where he was going and why. He made it known he had to go up to Jerusalem and what was going to happen there.
5. How had the religious leaders corrupted the purpose of the Temple? How were they like “Ticketmaster?”
In the outer court they had made it a place of business where they skimmed profit off from the sellers taking advantage of the people who came to make their yearly sacrifices and worship God. It was a corrupt system in a place designed for coming to worship God
6. After Jesus clears the temple of all the corrupt leaders, who comes to Him according to Matthew 21:14?
The blind and the lame came and He healed them. And children came and shouted their praises to Who He was. Out of the mouths of babes! I had never connected the dots on the time line of this event. What a beautiful picture of the heart and compassion of Christ to cleanse and heal those who come to Him and give them place as his own.
Last week Paige pointed out the six groups to whom Jesus kept ministering: the poor, the handicapped, the outcasts, the women, the children, and the Samaritans. Anyone who knew their need.
7. What is surprising about His cursing of the fig tree?
It was a negative miracle. The only one Christ ever did. He pronounced a curse and it immediately withered and died. But it was symbolizing the religious establishment of giving the appearance of being spiritual when in reality there was no fruit or the real life of God in them.
Bev: I remember Joni pointing out that Jesus did not choose to heal everyone. She shared how Jesus used that to show her that healing doesn’t make us more loved than others or more wanted by God. That so blessed me.
She shared that He is after our hearts: after a relationship with us and how sometimes He purposely allows sickness/weakness to exist, to draw us ever closer to Him.
That is the gift of my Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which many don’t realize is a very physical disease: my brain does not look like the brain of those who have not walked through the trauma I have. I feel emotions much more strongly than those with more healthy brains. It’s what causes my body to go into hypervigilance and to see danger where there is no danger.
If you look up the brain scans done on those with PTSD, you can see the alterations caused by the trauma. Your nephew who lost his parents so young probably also has a brain that looks different.
My disease humbles me, presses me into Christ’s arms, makes me realize how much I cannot trust myself and only Jesus and it leads me to see and love those who are excluded, because they are “different” and “difficult”, because I have experienced that rejection so very often myself.
Yes, He cleanses and heals us: but that’s not the prerequisite for entering His Presence. Praise God! Otherwise no one could enter into His Presence.
Oh my: you leading me to remember this is such a gift, Bev. I had been bewailing having “no one” read what God has me writing, but what a LIE from the devil and what PRIDE in me to rest in that.
These reflections you led me to made me rejoice in how God has surrounded me with the chronically ill, who are physically limited in so many ways: who know so much more pain and loss than me, but oh how God has touched them to tears by my poems. They have felt seen and known of God through what He has had me pen: it was His comfort to me and that comfort so comforted them because the comfort flowed directly from His precious Word that had moved into my heart.
And here I was waiting for that wider “recognition” and He was like: have You forgotten Me, Anna? Have you forgotten how I led you to reach out to others you didn’t even know were walking through similar things and how I touched them through you.
Just today, one of those friends reached out again to say thank you for being God’s love to her. Ugh insiduous pride, oh how I hate thee. Praise God He answered my prayer to break open my hardened heart.
Sorry for the multiple replies, Bev. But I so need to apologize for something. I was just listening to a teaching and it spoke about how we can be so busy trying to “fix” other people’s “problems” that we don’t do the work God wants us doing. She said that the enemy will try to convince us to get distracted doing things that aren’t any of our business, by using Bibical principles: telling us that by doing these things we are being loving and kind. She asked us to pray about for discernment in that.
I saw how I have done that in speaking of your nephew, when I don’t know him, and I hardly know you. And yet I convinced myself that God wanted me “speaking up”. I am sorry for meddling where I had no business meddling.
I asked God for more insight and something she said made me think of how as a kid I took on responsibility for my Mum’s emotional well-being. I tried to keep the peace between all my siblings, so that Mum wouldn’t get stressed and wouldn’t have my little brother smacked, when things got out of hand. I made it my job to take him out of my Mum’s hair.
No one told me to do that. I took it upon myself. And I do that a lot. I have prayed so much for God to help me to stop doing that. I will also immediately blame myself for people’s anger, looking for what I did wrong when sometimes it has nothing to do with me. But I will take that anger upon me. I do the same with people’s grief. But it’s so unhealthy.
I so often don’t notice I am doing it. I am getting better at noticing than before but have so far to go.
No doubt, I have made this mistake not just with you in this group. I am so thankful you shared of walking through spiritual abuse with me because that has helped me to trust that your intentions toward me are genuine and kindhearted. Please don’t shy away from speaking truth with me either.
Sorry to be slow responding but I have been out of town today helping my elderly mother and just came on the blog later this evening. I just saw this post tonight with your apology and don’t want you to feel I have ignored you. I can easily accept your apology but really did not feel it was necessary because I was not offended. I feel like if there is no offense there is no need for an apology. But seeing you have a very sensitive heart I want to respect that. I thought when I read the comment about our nephew that you are some one who seeks to relate with kind intention. The story of our family’s journey is very long and involved but God has glorified himself through the pain and trial of it all and we have moved on. It is far more than I can or should share here. The only honesty I have for you is that sometimes when I read what your write I feel like I am drinking from a fire hose. But that is probably more about me than you. I think your are a gifted poet and I greatly appreciate the depth of your poetry. Sometimes I feel like you should just let it speak for itself. Please keep sharing it.
Thanks, Bev. Appreciate you taking the time to respond and for your honesty.
Monday:
3. Why is this “coronation march” on Palm Sunday so surprising?
Because Jesus comes in riding on a donkey, not a horse. Because the people come bearing palm branches and not swords. Because the lame, blind (unclean) and praising children (weak) come running into the Temple to see and seek Jesus and Jesus welcomes them, rather than turn them away.
4. Why do you know Jesus is not the surprise victim of an execution?
Because it has always been Christ’s plan to die for us since the very beginning. It was all planned out meticulously. He was turned over from one to the other, because HE allowed it. When they asked Him if He was who they were seeking, knowing they were going to execute Him, He said: I AM. He didn’t run away. He only protected His followers, asking the soldiers to let them go. He willingly walked to His death.
5. How had the religious leaders corrupted the purpose of the Temple? How were they like “Ticketmaster?”
They had turned it into a den for robbers, hardly ever accepting the animals brought forward for sacrifice and demanding people buy “suitable” animals THEY sold at the Temple for exhorbitant prices.
6. After Jesus clears the temple of all the corrupt leaders, who comes to Him according to Matthew 21:14?
The blind and the lame.
Last week Paige pointed out the six groups to whom Jesus kept ministering: the poor, the handicapped, the outcasts, the women, the children, and the Samaritans. Anyone who knew their need.
7. What is surprising about His cursing of the fig tree?
That it is the only negative miracle. It shriveled and died as Jesus cursed it. It was a symbol for His Temple that had become a den for robbers: that grew leaves (outward show of piety), but no fruit (no inward transformation of their hearts through the Spirit of God to live out God’s heart to the world).
Good notes, Anna.
Sunday: Overview of Jesus Life up to Final Week
Ladies, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you for the Birthday wishes last week. Bing, thank you for the card, what a blessing it was to get it in the mail, thank you!
I’ve missed the blog and missed seeing the posts from all of you and will try my best to do all of this week, but I’m up anywhere from 4am to 5am and working 10-12 hour days right now and sadly my brain is fried by the time I clock out of work that I just sit on the couch and do nothing. UGH!!!
1. What stands out to you from the above and why? – I’ve listened once already, when Dee posted it last week I believe, WOW amazing, I did not take any notes though. I will listen again tonight and try and take some notes. I was not aware either that each Gospel talks about the last week of Jesus’ life. I will have to pay more attention to that.
2. Paige begins by reviewing her last week on the first part of Jesus’ life — from His birth to “the week that changed the world” to “the whole point of the Bible.” What surprises does she bring out? – I will have to try and listen.
Julie, somehow I missed your birthday last week! Sorry 😔. Happy birthday! I hope it was great. I too am flat out busy and am struggling to find my quiet time.
Happy belated birthday, Julie.
I listened to Paige Brown today and OH. WOW. Such depth and wisdom, I can’t wait to re-listen tomorrow and try to get notes. I loved how she talked about everything He did was an invitation for us to repent and follow. So thankful for how the Lord has gifted her, as He has Dee, and for His bringing this truth into my life!
So glad you got to listen, Lizzy!
3. Why is this ‘coronation March’ on Palm Sunday so surprising?
Jesus is hailed as King, but only by the peasants. He is reigning, but has no army. He doesn’t attack the occupying forces of Rome, but He clears out the temple. Everything was upside down. This both revealed and concealed His identity. All through the day, the people’s words of praise are right, but they really aren’t there in their hearts, and this is what leads Jesus to weep over the city. He didn’t come to bring temporary peace, but ultimate peace. He came to be crushed on our behalf. Every person that day had a use for Jesus, as do we.
4. Why do you know Jesus is not the surprised victim of an execution?
Jesus told them repeatedly before hand that this was the plan. In John 10, He tells them that He will be laying down His life, and then taking it up again.
5. How had the religious rulers corrupted the purposes of the temple? The temple was to be a place of God’s presence for all, a bridge to bringing truth and faith to all nations. The leaders had morphed it into their nationalistic symbol. This place was supposed to bring people to God, but by turning it into a mafia like marketplace, they kept people out. The rulers were supposed to guard the temple, and instead they had prostituted it. By calling them out on it, Jesus was signing His death sentence.
6. After Jesus clears the temple, who comes to Him there?
The same six groups He has focused on during His ministry; the poor, disabled, outcasts, women, children, and Samaritans. Anyone who recognized their need. Whereas these would have ordinarily been kept from sacrificing to God, here they were able to come to The Sacrifice, and He accepted them. The rulers, instead of seeing the wonderful things He was doing and how it proved Him as Messiah, became indignant and hardened into wanting Him dead.
7. What was surprising about His cursing of the fig tree?
I had never seen before that this was His only negative miracle. While He had cleansed the temple because of what He found there, He cursed the tree because of what He didn’t find there. It stood as a visual about the nation, all about show with no substance. There was no reality, just uselessness. When He tells them that they could pray for THE mountain to be removed, He is referring to the Temple Mount, with the point being that one simple prayer offered in faith was more powerful than a corrupt place of show.
I’ve heard it said that fig trees are without leaves except during the time they bear fruit. So in my mind, I hear Jesus saying it wasn’t that the tree was fruitless that brought down the curse, but that it was pretending to be something it wasn’t. It was advertising itself fraudulently. And the rulers were doing the same thing, both about themselves and about the temple. This is an encouragement to me, because it isn’t up to me to come to Jesus with lots of fruit I manufacture on my own. It is OK to come to Him empty and even barren, looking for Him to be the One to produce fruit through me to His glory, not mine.
Mary, didn’t Paige bring the cursing of the fig tree to life — imagining the shock of the disciples?
I love how Paige explained that all the parables that occurred in the last week we’re about a Father (really Him!) and His family members. She said He gave the invitation to the leaders at the beginning of the week and the disciples at the end of the week. He (the Father) asked them to come. How sad that they didn’t see it.
Yes, Laura — I had never really seen that division in the parables and that they all happened in the last week! Only Luke gives an “orderly” account so that was easy to miss.
Dee,
Thank you for getting this message by Paige Brown to us. I’ve listened and wept.
When she said…..
“There is no such thing as a committed Christian. There is only a committed God.”
“We were the joy set before Him. The question is, Is He the joy set before us?”
“The Lord already knows who we are. We’re only getting somewhere when we know who we are.”
“Pray for the eyes of your heart to see, because it is seeing the resurrected Christ that makes all the difference.”
Definitely the high points!
3. Why is this “coronation march” on Palm Sunday so surprising?
Every prophecy said that the Messiah would come and rule from Jerusalem. Yes, Jesus fulfills this by entering Jerusalem, but “surprise” – not in the way the people expected Messiah to enter….riding on a stately white horse, leading an army waving swords. Instead, Jesus arrives on a lowly donkey, leading a mob of peasants waving palm branches. Jesus doesn’t lead an attack on the Roman fortress; He cleanses the temple. He doesn’t come to take up arms against their oppressors; He takes aim at the Jewish religious leaders.
4. Why do you know Jesus was not the surprise victim of an execution?
Because beginning with Palm Sunday, with Jesus entering Jerusalem, this event of His triumphal entry into the city was planned. Luke’s gospel tells us that months prior, Jesus had “set His face” to go to Jerusalem (He knew what was coming). Jesus had said many times that His time had not yet come; when He goes to the city, He now said His time had come. Jesus is coming to the end of a pilgrimage that was planned in the councils of eternity, says Paige. Jesus’ entire life has been leading up to this. It is in Jerusalem that He makes everyone face His claims of who He is; no more “don’t tell anyone who I am”. Jesus is not a victim; He is a “volunteer”. The Father sent Jesus for this.
By the way, when Paige talked about the video she saw in youth group about the father who operates the train switches, and chooses to sacrifice his son to save all the people on the train – I remember many years ago the church I was attending showing that video. But Paige said, “that has nothing to do with the gospel”.
Paige states clearly that Jesus came to be the sacrifice. He is the good shepherd who will lay down His life for His own. He came not to crush, but to be crushed. The people are praising Jesus only because of the kind of king they want Him to be, and that makes Him weep, because they don’t understand who He is and why He came.
5. How had the religious leaders corrupted the purpose of the Temple? How were they like “Ticketmaster”?
The Temple was where all people could be called to come into God’s presence, a bridge to the other nations. Instead, it had become a symbol of separatism, a sort of “Israel against the world” place filled with nationalistic pride. The outer court of the Gentiles had been turned into a loud, raucous marketplace. The high priest and his friends own all of the franchises operating there, so they are making money. A temple tax was owed, and guess what? You could exchange your foreign currency right there! But for a hefty fee – think “Ticketmaster”. A convenient service provided, but at a cost. People were being excluded from worshiping God because the cost was prohibitive.
6. After Jesus clears the Temple of all the corrupt leaders, who comes to Him according to Matthew 21:14?
The blind and the lame came to Jesus at the Temple. This was revelatory for me, hearing how Paige explained this. So I read the verse in my Bible and yes, it comes right after the verses describing Jesus “throwing a fit” in the Temple. Somehow, I never connected the two. Paige says that Jesus must have been sweaty and breathing heavily, with flashing eyes, and you would think everyone would be afraid of Him. But who comes to Him? The blind and the lame. So I imagined these people on the margins, who came to the Temple for the Passover, and it’s so crowded and thronging with people, loud and noisy, and they don’t have a chance because of their physical limitations. Kind of like putting a blind or lame person at a Disney theme park on a really crowded summer day and telling them to enjoy themselves and go on all the rides. Somehow, these people must have seen Jesus as their champion, the one who just made a way for them to come closer. Paige said that the blind and lame were only allowed in the outer court and never allowed to offer sacrifices. Jesus welcomes them and heals them.
The irony of this is that it seems to “prove” to the chief priests and teachers of the law that there is no way this guy is the Messiah….but it does prove, according to the Scriptures, that Jesus is the Messiah because of the kinds of people He allows to come to Him.
7. What is surprising about his cursing of the fig tree?
I never quite understood this, so Paige’s explanation was very helpful to me. Jesus sees a fig tree that has leaves on it. So one would expect there to also be figs. Jesus is hungry, and He walks over to the tree fully expecting to find fruit. But there is none. Jesus curses the tree and it immediately withers. He cleansed the Temple because of what He found there. He curses the fig tree because of what He did NOT find there. In the OT, Israel is often compared to a fig tree. Israel had all the “leaves”, the “forms”, the “show” (they had all of their priests, religious leaders, ceremonies…) but they were nothing but empty, useless forms. Outwardly, it appeared they were a very religious people, but inwardly, there was “no reality of a heart for God”. So this scene wasn’t about a hungry Jesus who was in a bad mood and got ticked off at this tree. He was showing His disciples a powerful picture by this only negative miracle that He ever performed, that if they, with a simple faith and a real relationship with God, would pray a prayer in real faith, it has more power than what the temple mount itself with all its show, because in reality, it was empty.
8. What brings the enemies of Jesus together? (How surprising is this?)
All of Jesus’ enemies start coming together to confront Him, trying to trick Him, because what unites them is this: they have one common foe – Jesus. These different groups – Sadducees, Pharisees, Herodians…they didn’t like each other. But now they are allies in hatred for Jesus.
9. What questions do they ask to try to trap Him?
Paige points out they never ask “why”, as in “why did you do this in the Temple?” But rather they ask “By whose authority did you do this?” Jesus asks them where did John the Baptist get his authority – from heaven or from men? They say they don’t know, because any answer they give would now trap them.
Second question they ask is, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Another was about is a woman has seven husbands in her lifetime, whose wife will she be in the Resurrection, which was ironic because those who were asking didn’t even believe in the resurrection.
10. What parables does He speak to them to try to show them the trouble they are in if they do not repent?
The parables were told to point out to the religious leaders the reality of what was going on in “fruitless Israel”.
A man had two sons, and he asked them to go out and work in the vineyard. One said no, but later on, he did go. The other son said I will go – but never went. Which one did the will of his father? The one who changed his mind…tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of you!
A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to tenants. The man sends his servants to collect his part of the produce, but the tenants keep beating the servants. Finally, he sends his son, thinking they will listen to him. The tenants kill the man’s son and throw him out of the vineyard. They realize Jesus is talking about them. “You will be the ones on whom the stone falls”.
The wedding banquet….you’ve been invited but they have so many lame excuses when the date arrives, and they don’t come. So everyone is invited. But you must come in the right clothes – “wearing another”. You can’t come in on your own merit.
11. She closes with two “wedding parables”. What are they and what is the point of them?
The wedding banquet in which all have been invited to the great feast of the king and they had already RSVP’d saying “Yes, we will come”. When all is ready, the king says to come, but they don’t, offering lame excuses (oh, I have to wash my hair). In other words, everything in their lives is more important than this banquet.
So, the king instructs his servants to go out and find anyone who will come – the good, the bad…it doesn’t matter. They come, but one man shows up without wedding clothes which would have been provided for him. And he is thrown out. The double warning is this: 1) You’d better come when you’re called and 2) If you come, you have to come wearing another; you can’t come into the kingdom of God wearing your own merit (good works, self-righteousness).
Amazingly, and this was eye-opening for me, all of these parables with their dire warnings are at the same time invitations. Because if at any time, any one of those listening (or several) would have said, “OH, I understand, I get it!” , and turned to Him with repentance, Jesus would have gladly accepted them!
12. After the parables Jesus warns the people about their leaders through the woes of Matthew 23. What are some of them?
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees – you shut the kingdom in people’s faces. You won’t enter and you keep them from entering.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees – you travel afar to make one convert, and then you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees – you tithe your spices, but you neglect justice and mercy.
You care so much about cleaning the outside of the cup when the inside is filthy.
You are whitewashed tombs, so shiny on the outside, but inside you are full of dead men’s bones and rot.
In reading all of these, you realize that what makes Jesus angry are not the big sins, but the self-righteousness that says, “I don’t need You”, and the refusal to come to Him AND keeping others from coming, too. Paige points out that Jesus is lamenting here over these people, while continuing to invite them to come.
That’s our student Susan!
8. What brings the enemies of Jesus together? How surprising is this?
It is their continued and growing hatred of Him.
9. What questions do they ask to try and trap Him?
Instead of asking why He cleansed the temple, they want to know by what authority He did it. Those who don’t believe in an afterlife ask Him about marriage in heaven. They ask Him about paying taxes, a sure way to involve Rome.
To each question, He points out their duplicity. It reminds me of when my son was a teen, with some of his questions. I finally told him I wasn’t going to answer him because he didn’t want the answer. All he wanted was his own way. That is what these men were doing. They had no interest in learning or understanding, only in getting Jesus condemned.
10. What parable does He speak to try and show them the trouble they face if they don’t repent?
Jesus talks about the owner trying to collect his share of the harvest from those entrusted with caring for the vineyard. After repeated attempts, in which the people get progressively more violent against the messengers, the owner sends his son. But this One they kill and throw out of the vineyard, saying that now they can have the inheritance for themselves. But the owner will destroy them for how they have acted.
11. Two wedding parables. What are they, and what is the point?
The one in Matthew talks about all the invitations that went out and were accepted, but when it was time for the wedding celebration, the guests all had lame excuses for why they wouldn’t come, showing that they had no regard for the one who had invited them to start with. So the host brings in any and everyone that can be found to partake of the feast. Even then, someone gets in without the provided clothing, and gets thrown out. The point being that God has been extending invitations first to the Jews, who make excuses for why they can’t accept Jesus, and then God extends that invitation to ‘whosoever’. But you don’t have a right to be there on your own merits. You need to be clothed with the righteousness of another. It is really a double warning, along with a continuing invitation: come when you are called, and come wearing what the Father provides for you.
The one in Luke focuses on servants waiting for the Master to return from a wedding, and how He will not look kindly on servants who just use the opportunity to take what they can for themselves, rather than being true to the Master.
12. After the parables, Jesus warns the people about the rulers through the ‘woes’ of Matt 23. What are some?
They preach but don’t practice. They load up religious burdens on others but refuse to help them. Everything they do is calculated to be seen by people and impress them. They are willing to tithe down to garden herbs, but totally neglect true mercy. They will strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. They are like tombs, painted clean on the outside, but full of rotting bones on the inside.
What makes Him the most upset is that they not only cling to their self righteousness, thinking they don’t need Him, but to top it off, they do everything they can to keep others from Him as well. They are self deceived and are unaware of it. He keeps offering new ways to get them to see, and hear, and repent, and come to Him.
Yes, Mary. Self-deceived and unaware. When she asked, “If you were self-deceived, would you know it?” That is scary for me, because of my sister — but just makes me realize only God can open her eyes!
Thank you for posting that link to Paige Brown and urging us to watch it before it was gone. Seeing that it was over an hour long kept me waiting until “a convenient time” but when I finally started it tonight it was so compelling, interesting and soul feeding that the time flew by.
So glad, Dawn!
13. The disciples are impressed with Jerusalem’s magnificent Temple – what does Jesus tell them? (Mark 13) What does He tell them will happen to this Temple? How was this fulfilled?
After the disciples look admiringly upon the Temple with its massive stones as they are leaving, stunningly, Jesus tells them that not one stone of it will be left on another! History records that in 70 AD, Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
14, How does this destruction foreshadow God’s final judgment?
Many of the things Jesus said would happen before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, terrible things like people claiming to be the Messiah, earthquakes and disasters, are a foreshadowing of “the day of Judgment” that is to come, although Jesus emphasizes that no one knows when “that day” will be. He keeps emphasizing, rather, that we need to be ready. He says it will come so suddenly, just like a thief. While the destruction of Jerusalem was a great fall, an even greater fall is coming, and that is the day of judgment.
15. He now speaks to them in parables which all speak of being ready for the king to return. What were some of those parables?
It will come like a thief in the night – in other words, you will not know. So just be ready. (And ignore those who claim they know)
The wise and faithful servant – he didn’t know when his master would return, but was sure to have the master find him being about his master’s business when he did return. Simply being faithful in the things He has given you to do.
The Ten Virgins – it might be a really long time before He returns, so plan for the long-term.
The talents – you must be working for the kingdom. “Will you want to present anything you’ve done in the last week to the Lord when He returns?” Wow – this had me thinking hard. Would I? Is any of my work about pouring myself into other people? The wicked servant in this parable…he didn’t do anything evil, he did nothing – and that was evil. He took his talent that was given to him and buried it in the ground and went about his own business. Should the Lord return in this season of my life – would I be ready? Is my life characterized by perseverance and obedience?
16. In the upper room at the last supper, He shows them what we should be doing to be ready. What is it?
Paige says that the upper room discourse unpacks what is meant by perseverance and obedience. It’s washing one another’s feet. Loving one another. Considering others more important yourself. Looking to Him for joy and peace. Preparing for persecution, knowing that He will take care of you. Learning to trust, learning to pray. Jesus shows and demonstrates this by continuing to pour Himself into His disciples by loving and teaching them.
17. What are some of the human reasons Jesus was betrayed and crucified? What was the ultimate reason?
Human reasons:
Jesus threatened the Jewish leadership. He was becoming popular and therefore aroused the jealousies of the leaders.
Jesus publicly pointed out the leaders’ hypocrisy and ignored their unbiblical laws.
Jesus embarrassed them publicly and threatened their authority. The religious leaders also saw Him as unrighteous and unholy.
Their greatest fear was that Jesus would get the attention of Rome, and Rome would come there and squash all of them because of Jesus.
The religious leaders insistence that they were right, and Jesus was wrong.
Judas Iscariot’s betrayal – we are told that Satan entered him. Paige says there just is no logical human explanation as to why Judas would betray Jesus as he did. So his betrayal fits in to the ultimate reason, which is Jesus’ death was planned in eternity. (But Paige says this does not make it the ultimate reason)
The Ultimate Reason: Jesus had to atone for sin. His time had come.
18. How does Jesus re-arrange everything at this last Passover supper?
I love how Paige brings out that this was THE LAST Passover in history! The Passover was always about the Jews affirming their identity as God’s Chosen People, the ones that He brought out of the land of Egypt. They remember the night that the angel of the Lord passed over them. But, Jesus displaces the entire Old Testament at this meal. He re-orders it to be that this part of their identity is now secondary, not primary. They are about to go from being the “people of the Exodus” to the “people of the Cross”. In this, Jesus places Himself at the center of all of history – all of salvation history. WOW. Jesus is saying I AM THE RESCUER. I AM THE LAW. I AM THE MANNA. All of the “Moses era and the Law” served only to put the spotlight on JESUS. All of the sacrifice-language becomes about Jesus….”this is my body broken for you….this cup is the cup of my blood shed for you.” This is a new covenant. And Jesus accomplishes everything for this covenant, including the blood sacrifice. Finally Jesus says “do all of this in remembrance of Me.”
19. Why does Paige think Jesus chose Peter, James and John to come to Gethsemane?
Paige thinks these three in particular needed to be there right with Jesus, away from the other eight, because they had made the biggest claims…claiming they wanted to sit in seats of honor at His right and His left, and that they would never forsake Him. Jesus wasn’t counting on them to support and comfort Him because He already knew they were all going to fall away. He warned these three to “Watch and pray that YOU may not fall into temptation.” Yet in their weakness, they keep falling asleep.
20. Why is His suffering so great in Gethsemane? What does “the cup” mean?
Jesus has to go through all of this alone, because even his closest three friends fall asleep. It comes down to just Jesus and the Father. Paige asks, “Why does Jesus die worse than other martyrs who went to their deaths singing hymns?” Because what He faces is so different, and therefore He dies so differently. He is agonizing over having to face “this cup”. The cup is the picture of the fullness of God’s wrath against sin, the terrible wrath that makes men reel and stagger. Jesus will be fully identified with sin and will fully bear the wrath of God for sin. Secondly, Jesus is in anguish over His relationship with His Father. Jesus knows that by drinking “the cup”, He will lose His relationship with His Father. He will be severed from the Father, abandoned by the Father. This is what He cannot face. This is why He must be alone with His Father. Here, God says “Obey Me and You will be crushed, You will lose Your relationship with Me.”
I loved how Paige explained away the bad teaching that we may have heard about how God will be with us when we have to “go to our gardens” (of Gethsemane). She emphasized that we will NEVER have to go to that garden. Jesus did not go there ahead of us, He went there instead of us. We will never go there because He did. Jesus said YES. (It’s as if God said, “If you don’t really want Susan, You don’t have to do this, Jesus. But if You do, there’s no other way.” Tears.)
21. Why is the trial so weird? Why does He have to be convicted both by Rome and the Jews?
Paige brings out that Jesus presented Himself for arrest. Though it is taught and we read that He was “handed over” by Judas, and “handed over” from one authority to another, it’s the same word used in Romans that means God handed over His Son. It is the love of God amidst all of this hatred that is handing over the Son. The trial is weird with lots of back and forth because they needed a capital charge in the eyes of the Jews and the Romans. The Jews could not execute anyone; they could only punish. The Jews needed to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people so that He would not be seen as a martyr. They also needed to prove to the Romans that He deserved death. So they need a double charge. The trial is happening at night, there are of these false witnesses saying different things, Caiphas is getting frustrated….they finally get the charge of blasphemy which condemns him in the eyes of the Jews. Before Pilate, they succeed in getting the charge of sedition which gives Rome a reason to crucify Him.
22. All four gospels show Peter’s denial. “While Peter is denying outside, Jesus is inside not denying but preparing to die for His closest followers. Paige said, “There is no such thing as a committed Christian, only a committed God.” Do you agree, or not? Explain.
Peter’s denial is important because that’s what the atonement is all about. We often ask ourselves what we would have done in this situation. Maybe we believe that we would have done better than Peter. But Paige points out, “This is Peter!” Peter actually calls down the wrath of God upon himself as he says he does not know Jesus. This is Peter. This shows how much we love God versus how much God loves us. When that rooster crows, Peter is shattered. Everything he thought he knew about himself is not true.
I do agree with this statement. How could I ever think I could do better than one of Jesus’ closest friends? I make plans to read the Bible in a year, or promise to get up early each and every morning to pray, and last maybe a few days before I miss that appointment? Or a particular sin…I resolve I will never, no never, do it again, and I may go quite a long time without doing it, but then I fail, again. Only Jesus’ level of commitment is beyond reproach, is perfect. I can’t even commit to love God in the way that I should, because my emotions go back and forth, ebb and flow, wax and wane, and I go through periods of affection for Him and then fall away into self-centeredness or “more important things to do”. Thank God that His commitment to me does not have anything to do with my being able to maintain perfect commitment to Him, or I would be lost.
Susan — was that a new thought to you that He chose those 3 because they made the biggest claims? I always thought it was because He was closest to them — but maybe not.
Hmm…it was a new thought to me, what Paige said about them needing to be there because they had made the biggest claims. And yet, I also wonder, of what use was it to them that they were chosen, because they couldn’t stay awake? How much did they see or overhear as Jesus wrestled in prayer with the Father? I think prior to this, I had, too, thought He chose them because they were the closest to Him.
I was curious … so I clicked on Paige’s message posted in Dee’s post and it played – PTL Perhaps because I did not close the page yesterday and it is still in my computer’s queue or whatever – I am simply grateful 🙂
Yes — you were blessed to not have closed the window!
I took a step back to pray and write alone with God: thanks Susan and Mary for the prompting. Such breakthrough in my heart. More and more repentance coming that started with God showering me in kindness and showing me how He saw my pain.
But then He moved to that fig tree Jesus cursed (thank you, Dee). It made me think of the story of Jonah, when God destroyed Jonah’s only shelter, as he bemoaned the mercy God had poured out upon Ninevah. Ouch.
Suddenly something just broke inside of me and all the pain just flowed out of me and in its place I found peace and joy filling me, as I was able to thank God for wearing my crown of thorns, so that I would never have to wear it.
After that repentance I suddenly saw all these “little” promptings I had pushed away in false humility, aka pride. I was reminded of what Paige had said: it’s all about being obedient in the faith God gives us. Oh how much repentance flowed there, as I laid aside my “religious vestages” (dead leaves) to do those little things God had put on my heart.
Then, He had me edit my blog in so many ways to reflect the heart change in me. Oh what JOY filled my heart doing that, as I began to recognize healing leaves and abiding fruit He’s been growing in me through every cutting off and pruning of branches.
But now to the reason I am sharing this: He’s asked me to lay down my sharing in this space. But I wanted to share the above first and to let you know what God showed me: how He has used this place to cut out bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart toward churches. I had spoken that forgiveness out with my own will, but HE has now birthed that in me. It is SO freeing. I feel so much lighter and can see so much clearer.
He’s set a path before me and I am choosing to walk into it with such thankfulness to Him and His Body. Each of you here has been a gift to me in very unique ways (His gentleness, His kindness, His compassion, His love, His truth, His mercy, His grace) and I will be FOREVER thankful to God for each of you. Maybe our paths will cross again here on earth, but if not: I will see you in eternity!
And a special thanks to Dee for hosting this space. May God continue to anoint it with His oil of healing and His tender heart of compassion. May you see many more hearts freed in the kindness of our LORD.
Much love from your sister in the LORD,
Anna
Anna, again, I had been wondering what was going on with you, so thank you for telling us. I rejoice with you over God’s healing in your life, and pray that He will bring to completion the work He has begun in you. Perhaps our paths will cross again, but yes, if not on earth, then in heaven….
Anna — thanks so for sharing your journey and how the Lord and these dear sisters have helped you. Forgiveness is so hard but so healing. I pray you find a local fellowship. We are all sinners, and yet we need one another so. Thanks so for your time here — and you are always welcome here!
Anna,
It is moving to hear how God has moved in your heart and life. In particular for you to say “what God showed me: how He has used this place to cut out bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart toward churches. I had spoken that forgiveness out with my own will, but HE has now birthed that in me. It is SO freeing. I feel so much lighter and can see so much clearer.”
That is no small thing which I truly understand. Because I have lived that place of trying with my will to forgive and even being willing to forgive but living forgiveness out is another story. It has to come to us supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit. And you have testified to that. Oh may God continue to richly bless you and to make you a blessing to many others.
I haven’t gotten to questions yet this week. I’ve been trying to listen and take copious notes on the sermon. Unfortunately I was unable to get to the last half though. I listened once and took notes on about 45 minutes. I’ll do my best with questions. Thanks to all in advance, for any help at the end though!
3. Why is this “coronation march” on Palm Sunday so surprising?
He rides a donkey (not a white horse) and comes with peasants (not soldiers). They wield palm branches (not weapons). They had always thought the “king” that would come to save them would be like King David.
4. Why do you know Jesus is not the surprise victim of an execution?
He could have changed it all, but He didn’t. He offered Himself. He was in control of everything that last week.
5. How had the religious leaders corrupted the purpose of the Temple? How were they like “Ticketmaster?”
They waited for people to bring their sacrifices and they they inspected them, but the sacrifice was never good enough so they had others there for them to purchase. I’m not sure how she knows all this though (?). Is that in scripture? It is written that they were “dealing” in business in the temple though. I guess I’m just questioning the specifics here.
6. After Jesus clears the temple of all the corrupt leaders, who comes to Him according to Matthew 21:14?
The blind and the lame came to Him.
That’s all you can do! I understand with your crazy house and my short notice. It sounds like one day this will be available again.
13. What does Jesus tell His disciples will happen to the temple? How was this fulfilled?
He told them that not one stone would stay on another, and that is what happened when the Romans sacked the city in 70AD. Two things strike me about this. First is that Jesus didn’t want the disciples to put their awe in a physical place, but to keep their focus on God, Who is so gracious as to not do anything without telling us ahead of time. The second is that one of the ironic things the rulers said was that if they didn’t get rid of Jesus, the Romans would come and take away their temple. But it wasn’t really their temple, and they lost it anyway. Makes me think of trying to save your life, but if you don’t give it away to God, you can’t keep it.
14. How does this foreshadow God’s final judgement?
In the same way a shadow gives you an idea of the reality but isn’t as substantial as the real thing, all the signs Jesus gives and their fulfillment in 70AD, are not as substantial as the judgement will be. We can’t comprehend how terrible that time will be.
15. What are some of the parables about being ready for the return of the King?
That He will come like a thief in the night. The faithful and wise servant, who continues doing what the master desires, no matter how long he has to wait for the return. The ten virgins, some foolish and some wise. The ten talents and how they are handled.
In each, the point is to be ready. The key seems to be obedience plus perseverance. It doesn’t have to be flashy or garner a lot of attention, but it needs to have God as the focus. Don’t stop or give up. Keep trusting and doing the next right thing.
16. In the upper room, Jesus demonstrates how to be ready. What should we be doing?
Jesus took on the job of the lowest servant, the job no one else wanted to lower themselves to do. He washed their feet. He said that this is the way we show love. To Him, to each other, and to the world. This is how we put into practice considering others more important than ourselves. This is how we emulate Him, who lowered Himself consistently to show us love. This is how we get ready to face persecution.
17. What were the human reasons Jesus was betrayed and crucified? What was the ultimate reason?
The rulers saw Jesus as a threat to their leadership and their authority. They were envious of Him, embarrassed by Him, and worried about where this might lead. They thought Him unrighteous and even satanic. He wouldn’t bow to them or their traditions. The two most popular thoughts on why Judas betrayed Him center on greed or disillusionment. Paige acknowledged them, but said they weren’t enough. That while Judas likely had both those feelings and was moving in the direction of betrayal, the tipping point was Satan entering him. Makes me think of the warning in the epistles of not giving Satan a foothold in our lives by nurturing evil within ourselves.
The ultimate reason for the betrayal and crucifixion is that God allowed all these things to happen because it was the plan from the beginning. He told us about it starting with the Fall.
I need to follow you here. Judy
Glad to see you, Judy!
Is anyone else really sad that the video went away? I sure am! I tried to listen to it as much as possible. Paige is certainly gifted preacher….yes, a preacher. I believe any man or woman would be blessed to listen to her explain the Bible as she does. I don’t know why, but at first, I thought I wouldn’t really like the video. But it just ties everything together about Jesus’ life, especially His final week. She makes it all seem so seamless. I have learned so much and an “old”, familiar story has become new to me and that is wonderful.
Susan and others–not sure if this has been mentioned already, but I went to the website ( a few weeks ago when Dee first mentioned her) and signed up for emails to the Wed. study. They email the link to the video each week and resources (time lines, questions, etc), it’s so rich!
Thanks for this, Lizzy!
Susan — I know many are sad and I think it will come back some day. Yes — sooooo rich.
I loved the video from Paige! I gleaned SO much. I am also sad that we can’t watch it anymore 😔.
Loved, loved, loved this video! Thanks, Dee for all the insight you bring, and all the great resources you curate for us! Besides some of the main points, I was also intrigued by the comparison between the two gardens. I have heard a sermon somewhere that talked about how the word “paradise” has in it’s root original meaning, the concept of a cultivated garden. So Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross became more meaningful to me in light of the fact that the Bible begins and ends with a garden paradise. (Luke 23:43 & Rev. 2:7) How beautiful is our God who restores all things! Jesus’ Garden of Gethsemane was truly a different kind of garden than anything we will ever experience (“obey me and you will be crushed”). How wonderful that Jesus made the way for us into a heavenly paradise (“obey me and you will be blessed”)!.
That is so interesting about the gardens, Penny. Glad you are here!
Just wanting to touch base with the blog here. I’ve had an involved week with a day out of town to be with my elderly mother and my sweet godly sister. We had our weekly small group in our home last night and this morning I was filling in leading a women’s Bible study at church. Tomorrow early we take off for two days to be with our family on an annual trek to the Nebraska High School Boys State Basketball Tournament. It is something our guys do every year and my grandsons are now the 5th generation to enjoy their special time together each March with their dad and their grandpa. We girls go and enjoy staying in a hotel, not cooking and doing some shopping in a larger town. Tomorrow is my younger son’s 40th birthday so we will celebrate him. My husband’s family loves to laugh and it has carried over to our kids when we are together.
This year in spite of Covid, masks, mandates and social distancing God has allowed our family to come together and experience His blessing in the middle of hard stuff. I take none of it for granted. We serve a gracious God.
The wealth of good teaching from Paige’s video has carried over into my life this week in such encouraging ways. I shared it with my sis and we were able to discuss it and share how it blessed us. My husband listened with me two nights ago as I wanted to listen again and take more notes. He was impressed with the good teaching as well.
strong>The clearer understanding from Paige on what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and the decision by Jesus to accept and drink the cup of God’s wrath gives a much deeper meaning to the Cross. And then on the other side of THE CRUCIFIXION we have the power of the Resurrection. That true bodily resurrection that Thomas affirms for us is real. She said we should “only look at the Cross through the lens of the Resurrection”. It’s an important point she makes that the Resurrection transforms people. Only the resurrected Christ causes that.
One of the things that had a profound affect on me was the teaching about how we were the joy set before Christ. We were the only joy on the front side of the Cross that Jesus could not have. We are the only reason He went to the Cross so he could have the joy of redeeming us and having us for eternity.
Then her challenge in asking “Is He the joy set before us?” I have been pondering that incredibly wonderful truth all week. Lent has a new and deeper meaning for me this year because of what I have gained right here. I am deeply blessed by the richness of it all.
Have fun with your family, Bev, in Nebraska! I do hope you will not be affected by the winter storm I am hearing about out there….coming into Colorado but I don’t know how far it will spread. One of our sons is in CO this weekend.
7. What is surprising about His cursing of the fig tree?
It is Jesus’ only negative parable.
8. What brings the enemies of Jesus together? (How surprising is this?)
They are trying to catch Him saying something He shouldn’t say; they want to trip Him up in His professing. They become allies in this.
Paige says it is very surprising! Why? Because the Heroditites didn’t believe in the resurrection and even they were helping out!
9. What questions do they ask to try to trap Him?
They ask Him by whose authority He was turning the tables at the temple.
10. What parables does He speak to them to try to show them the trouble they are in if they do not repent?
He tells them the story of where the Father asks the sons to take care of the vineyard. One says he will and doesn’t, the other says we won’t and does. He asks, “Who does the will of the Father?”
The parable of the vineyard where the Father (master) sends servants to check on his rented property and bring back his share of the crop. They all came back beaten and with no crop. He then sends his son who is murdered. Jesus is pointing out that the “owner,” the Father, is the One who holds the authority and should not be rejected. If rejected, they will be crushed.
11. She closes with two “wedding parables.” What are they and what is the point of them?
The 10 virgins have to wait a long time. Be ready for the long term.
The wedding that everyone is invited to but “who could be bothered?” They said “yes” but no one would come (I have to wash my hair!). There is a double warning here….come when you’re called in the Spirit of the Lord. Always be ready.
Everything Jesus taught in the last week was an invitation to come to Him.
All the parables were about a Father.
He tells them that tax collectors and prostitutes will gain the Kingdom because of their hearts. The Pharisees say yes with their heads and have no heart for Jesus in reality.
18. How does Jesus rearrange everything about Passover?
Paige said this was the last Passover in history. I don’t think I agree with that, unless you are defining it from God’s viewpoint of what is necessary. People have continued to celebrate it, even to today. Many Christians celebrate it specifically to recognize and highlight how Jesus is our ultimate Passover lamb, and that many of the particulars are either shadows of His coming or were fulfilled in His death. I do agree that we don’t need to focus on being people of the Exodus. We are now people of the cross. We can see Jesus as the center of history because we are on this side of the cross. As He accomplishes everything for the disciples, and for us as believers, He tells us to do this in remembrance of Him. We know from Corinthians that He is referring to communion.
19. Why does Paige think Jesus choose Peter, James and John to come to Gethsemane?
She makes a really good point that these three had made the biggest claims. All eleven were there, but these three came closer. Tim Keller has a message that talks about what the high priest did to get ready for the day of atonement. The night before, he didn’t sleep, but prayed all night. There were close associates with him, to pray with him and help keep him awake. So Jesus, as our High Priest, on the day before Atonement, asked His three closest associates to be with Him. Not to keep Him awake, but as Paige said, to be praying for themselves to not fall into temptation. Also very interesting to note that the word Gethsemane means ‘olive press’, and it is where Jesus was crushed for us.
20. Why is His suffering so great? What is the ‘cup’?
This time in the garden is pivotal. In the first garden, the first man, Adam, failed the test. In this garden, the second Adam, Jesus, passed the test. It was so intense because Jesus is facing two huge things. First is the ‘cup’ of God’s wrath. Second is the abandonment of Himself by God the Father. These have always seemed to me to tell us that the time to prepare for something is ahead of the trial; deciding ahead of the event who you are going to hold fast to. For Jesus, heaven was infinitely greater than earth, and losing communion with the Father was going to be infinitely worse. Adam was told to obey God and he would live. Jesus was asked to obey God and be crushed. But because Jesus wanted us so much, He said yes.
21. Why is the trial so weird? Why do they want Him convicted by both Jewish and Roman law?
The whole set up is weird because it is totally illegal. They drag Him through multiple ‘trials’ and can’t find a way to convict Him until He gives it to them Himself. The Jews could have stoned Him. Maybe not legally, but they did it with Stephen. But that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted Him totally discredited and humiliated. They didn’t just want Him out of their hair, they wanted to satisfy their hatred. So they kept at it with Pilate until sedition looked plausible, though Pilate didn’t believe that.
22. Peter’s denial and Paige’s statement, “there’s no such thing as a committed Christian. Only a committed God.” Agree or not?
Peter’s denial shows us how far resolve can take us; how much we love God as opposed to how much He loves us. It shattered Peter. Now he sees the truth of who he is, and how much he needs atonement. As far as Paige’s statement, it is easy to think of the martyrs and question it, but I think they could only do it because of the Holy Spirit within them. So, yes, I would agree.
Thoughtful comments, Mary. On Passover, I think she was defining it from God’s perspective as Jesus said He wouldn’t eat it again until the banquet in the New Kingdom. It is true people still celebrate — some Jews who are still waiting for the Messiah, and some Messianic Jews and Christians as a remembrance.
What is your take-away from this week and why?
Many, however I will list just a few.
1. Over 1/2 of each of the 4 gospels describe the last week. Must have been an important week 🙂
2. The cursing of the fig tree – what I continued to not understand is the additional comment in Mark “because it was not the season for figs.” Perhaps Paige explained it and I missed it. I did a little research on the internet and found the following helpful
According to the late renowned NT scholar F.F. Bruce:
2. When Jesus asked Peter, James and John to go with him to pray at Gethsemane, they needed Jesus to pray for them more than Jesus needed them to pray for him. Paige commented that they didn’t care – part of the reason they fell asleep repeatedly. I don’t know why they repeatedly fell asleep, but not caring sounds so harsh. I recently watched Ray Vander Laan’s the Path to the Cross and he presents that night as the night of watching that comes from the Exodus Chapter 13. He makes a point that as Christians, we would benefit from experiencing a seder. Have any of you been to one? I’ve watched part of one (Dennis Prager) online and he did a nice job explaining what happens, why and where it comes from in the bible.
3. With respect to being ready for when the Lord returns – Paige asked “what have you done since Christmas (or this last week) that you would lift up to the Lord”. Oh my, not near enough!
That was such a good question from Paige about what we’ve done for eternity!
Patricia — I had to approve these comments – perhaps because you came in on a different device or used a different e-mail spelling – -always hard to know but I always feel badly when people have to wait for me to approve. Such good thoughts!
I am blog challenged – apologize for posting comment twice. Feel free to delete the duplicate.
What is your take-away from this week and why?
Many, however I will list just a few.
1. Over 1/2 of each of the 4 gospels describe the last week. Must have been an important week 🙂
2. The cursing of the fig tree – what I continued to not understand is the additional comment in Mark “because it was not the season for figs.” Perhaps Paige explained it and I missed it. I did a little research on the internet and found the following helpful
According to the late renowned NT scholar F.F. Bruce:
“The other miracle is the cursing of the barren fig tree (Mk. xi 12 ff.), <b>a stumbling block to many.</b> They feel that it is unlike Jesus, and so someone must have misunderstood what actually happened, or turned a spoken parable into an acted miracle, or something like that. Some, on the other hand, welcome the story because it shows that Jesus was human enough to get unreasonably annoyed on occasion. <b>It appears, however, that a closer acquaintance with fig trees would have prevented such misunderstandings</b>. ‘The time of the fig is not yet,’ says Mark, for it was just before Passover, about six weeks before the fully-formed fig appears. <b>The fact that Mark adds these words shows that he knew what he was talking about</b>. When the fig leaves appear about the end of March, <b>they are accompanied by a crop of small knobs, called taqsh by the Arabs, a sort of fore-runner of the real figs</b>. <b>These taqsh are eaten by peasants and others when hungry. They drop off before the real fig is formed</b>. <b>But if the leaves appear unaccompanied by taqsh, there will be no figs that year</b>. So it was evident to our Lord, when He turned aside to see if there were any of these taqsh on the fig-tree to assuage His hunger for the time being, <b>that the absence of the taqsh meant that there would be no figs when the time of figs came</b>. For all its fair foliage, it was a fruitless and a hopeless tree.” (Bruce, <i>Are The New Testament Documents Reliable?</i> [Intervarsity Press; Downers Grove, Ill, fifth revised edition 1992], pp. 73-74)
2. When Jesus asked Peter, James and John to go with him to pray at Gethsemane, they needed Jesus to pray for them more than Jesus needed them to pray for him. Paige commented that they didn’t care – part of the reason they fell asleep repeatedly. I don’t know why they repeatedly fell asleep, but not caring sounds so harsh. I recently watched Ray Vander Laan’s the Path to the Cross and he presents that night as the night of watching that comes from the Exodus Chapter 13. He makes a point that as Christians, we would benefit from experiencing a seder. Have any of you been to one? I’ve watched part of one (Dennis Prager) online and he did a nice job explaining what happens, why and where it comes from in the bible.
3. With respect to being ready for when the Lord returns – Paige asked “what have you done since Christmas (or this last week) that you would lift up to the Lord”. Oh my, not near enough!
12. After the parables Jesus warns the people about their leaders through the woes of Matthew 23. What are some of them?
13. The disciples are impressed with Jerusalem’s magnificent temple — what does Jesus tell them? (Mark 13) What does He tell them will happen to this Temple? How was this fulfilled?
He tells them that it will all be destroyed. It was fulfilled by an earthquake at His death.
14. How does this destruction foreshadow God’s final judgment?
In the end, God will destroy it all. In AD 70 it happened (?).
15. He now speaks to them in parables which all speak of being ready for the King to return. What were some of those parables?
I think I mixed some of the parables up in the questions.
Parable of the thief in the night – you must always be ready
Parable of the faithful servant – doing His work
Parable of the 10 virgins – it might be a very long time
Parable of the talents – What does hour kingdom work look like?
16. In the Upper Room at the last supper, He shows them what we should be doing to be ready. What is it?
Taking care of each other, He washes their feet. He tells them that the fall will happen and they should be ready for it. Olivet discourse? I’m not sure if this is the right answer….
17. What are some of the human reasons Jesus was betrayed and crucified? What was the ultimate reason?
Human reasons:
They were afraid of Him and what He said because it meant they were wrong.
They had become too much about themselves and this earth. They didn’t want to give up what they had here.
Ultimate reason is that He threatened their authority. Rome would come and “squash” them.
Laura — I’m impressed with your faithfulness even though you couldn’t hear the end of Paige’s teaching. You are doing a great job.
Thanks Dee! Looks like I forgot the woes though! Ha! I listened during my lunch on Monday and Tuesday and before that any time I could. I wrote notes in a journal but then didn’t always have the journal to answer the questions here….ugh. Loved her delivery though.
23. What stood out to you about Paige’s description of the crucifixion and why?
I guess the main thing that stood out to me is that there was only one thing that got Jesus through the crucifixion: US. Namely, “WE are His joy, I am His joy, We are His great love, I am His great love.”
24. These things were said by those watching the crucifixion. Explain how they were ironically true:
He saved others, but He cannot save Himself – the “commentary” being made by the onlookers was ironically true, in that indeed, Jesus was actively saving all of mankind as He suffered on that Cross, and yes, He could not “save Himself”, because if He had decided to save Himself and aborted His mission, then we (and those historically present there) would have all been eternally lost. Saving Himself would’ve meant losing us.
Let His blood be on us and our children – His blood was “on them”….He was dying because of them…and His blood is on all of us – every future generation to come. We are all collectively responsible for Jesus’ death. Also, they didn’t understand the gravity of what they were saying – imagine knowingly saying that the Son of God’s death be on you and your children – yikes.
25. When Jesus cried “My God My God”, He didn’t use the word “Abba”. But when He said, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit”, He did. Comments?
While on the Cross, we now understand that Jesus was being treated as if HE was personally responsible for every human sin. So, God was not “Father” to Him at that moment. I am thinking that just before He took His final breath, the atonement was accomplished, and then the Father “became” Father to Jesus again – their relationship was restored.
26. What are some of the ways God confirmed this truly was His Son when Jesus died?
The giant curtain in the temple that hid the Holy of Holies place was torn in two, from top to bottom. There were earthquakes, darkness fell over the land….all kinds of supernatural events that didn’t normally happen when an ordinary person died.
27. Post Resurrection Appearances – comment on anything you learned from:
Sadly, my notes are short – I am an auditory learner….I listened to her speak and then I remember certain things and answer the questions here. Now, I can’t listen and my notes on this part…I can’t come up with anything! I only know that He first appeared to Mary at the tomb – an incredible gift to a woman, showing that he trusted her to carry the message of his rising from the dead to the others (my thoughts).
WE ARE JESUS’ JOY – IS JESUS OUR JOY?
29. How would you respond to this?
I do remember Paige saying something like, “It makes all the difference when someone is alive, doesn’t it?” Like, imagine a person that you have loved, who has died, and what would it be like if they came back? How would you feel at that moment, to see them alive again? JOY! When I wake up in the morning, after dreaming about my mom or dad, and in the dream I’ve seen their faces and maybe hugged them, and it seemed so real, when I wake up, it’s like a feeling of not joy, because they aren’t here anymore, but I want to savor the memory of my dream in which I saw them, talked to them, touched them. Paige said “Our joy is born in His resurrection.” But I think in order to feel that joy, we must think about what came first – His death, and why that came first – because of our sin and depravity, yet to think that I was the joy set before Him….the gospel means nothing unless we understand our condition and why we needed such a rescue….then the good news is really good news, joy is really joy.
30. What is your take-away from this week and why?
From Paige’s message, what really is my take-away is when Peter was outside, calling down curses upon himself and betraying his closest friend, Jesus; when Peter realized what he had done, he was shattered, and he likely thought he was ruined for life. But at the same time, Jesus was inside (during his “trial”), remaining faithful to Peter. There is no such thing as a “committed Christian”, only a committed God. That’s what I want to hold on to for those times when I believe I’ve messed up one time too many, that God is through with me (or I feel through with myself). His love for me doesn’t depend on how much I can hold myself to a standard. I have to tell myself that over and over, that His love and faithfulness and mercy do not depend on ME.
Such a good take-a-way for you, Susan. You so need that voice of truth in your heart, as you don’t have it in your home.
23. What stood out to you in the description of the crucifixion and why?
It was new to me that humiliation and debasing were the main goals. I had always heard that the Romans wanted the punishment to last as long as possible with the maximum amount of suffering. I appreciated that she talked about the spikes going through the wrists. So many depictions have them going through the hands, because that is the word used in English. I was taught that the Aramaic word used would refer to both the hand as we know it, plus the forearm. If not placed in the wrist, the spikes would immediately pull out through the fingers.
24. The ironically true statements.
First was Annas saying it would be better for one man to die than for the nation to perish. And we all would perish without Jesus dying for us.
Let His blood be on us and on our children. That was always God’s plan from the very start; for Jesus’s blood to be applied to our sin. The sign above Him on the cross, proclaiming Him King of the Jews, in three languages. And so He was, and is. Cursed is anyone hung on a tree. The rulers wanted that so that the people would think of Him as cursed. But He took our place and our curse. Though He saved others, He can’t save Himself. Really ironic that at this point they acknowledged He had saved people, when earlier they didn’t want to say that. And He could have saved Himself, but would have lost us, and so He chose not to.
25. Comments on the way Jesus addresses God from the cross.
This was eye opening for me, that while He was sin for us, He could not approach God as His Father. Once the debt had been paid, His relationship was restored.
26. How did God confirm this was His Son at the death?
The earthquake, the tearing of the temple curtain from top to bottom, saints coming out from their tombs. Even the centurion got it! I’ve often wondered how the rulers made sense of all but the earthquake, which were clearly signs. And did those saints understand what was happening? Did they talk to people? What did they say? What happened after that to them?
27. Post resurrection sightings.
I was taught that He appeared first to a woman because it was a woman who first sinned. In my mind I’ve seen the women going at sundown after the sabbath to buy the spices, but having to wait till morning to go to the tomb. Absolutely loved what Paige said about not settling for a Jesus that can’t be touched. I know we can’t touch Him physically right now, but I get so frustrated with people who settle for a faith that lies flat on the page and doesn’t come alive for them. If you can’t interact with Him, it just seems only cerebral and not part of your being. The cross needs to be seen through the resurrection. I am pondering what that means in terms of how I try to share my faith. How can I make the resurrection more of an issue rather than my thoughts or emotions??
28. It wasn’t just a crucifixion, it was THE crucifixion. It was unlike any other. I don’t think we emphasize the cross and resurrection enough, since hearing this message. I make it way too ‘spiritual’. And in our culture, everyone makes up their own spiritual truth.
29. Response to ‘we are Jesus’s joy…is He ours?’
That we were the joy set before Him, even down to an individual basis, blows me away. I’ve read the verses, but somehow never felt the full import of it. That our joy is born in His resurrection. This is what changed the disciples from bumbling idiots to world influencers. Though I would add the transformation didn’t really become complete until the coming of the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit couldn’t come till after the resurrection. The transformation is true of every believer, available for us.
30. Take away and why.
For sure, is He my joy? I would always say yes, but don’t always live like it. It is so good to be reminded and stirred up in our faith.
I will remember that too: THE crucifixion.
My take away:
I so missed getting here and reading the rich exchange among you, ladies. Had a reaction to my meds and I am just so thankful God gave me enough energy to finish the week at school with some important activities that I felt I needed to be in school for. I did get to listen to Paige’s message and am so glad I invested time in it. I took several pages of notes, so rich it was hard to narrow my take-aways. I try to discipline myself to seek out the truth about the Trinity rather than just what’s in it for me and what I can be doing, although I know it is good to do so as well. The “being” rather than the “doing”.
Jesus went to the cross for the JOY that is set before Him. And we are/I am this JOY! If there is one thing that can carry me through life-it is knowing this. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so! I love the conversation that Paige thought may have happened between the Father and the Son at the Garden of Gethsemane. Asking the Father for the cup to pass Him as being severed from the Father is the cup that He will drink. And then it is as if God said, If we want Paige (or Bing or anyone of us), there is no other way. Whaaa….seriously ugly tears.
Jesus cursing the fig tree as the only negative miracle that He did. He cursed it for what He did not find there. It was full of leaves but no fruit. It was deceptive with its lush leaves but no fruit. The Pharisees have taken care of the outward appearance but their hearts were far from God. How Pharisaic can I be? So easy to just tick off my Christian to-do list and miss Jesus along the way!
“There is no such thing as a committed Christian; only a committed God. ” This is both a humbling and an encouraging reality. No matter how committed I think I am to God, I fall short many times. But He will NEVER fail me. His commitment to me is not dependent on me.
Thank you, Dee, for sharing Paige’s message with us. I also hope that I can listen to it again someday.
I’m so glad you got to listen, Bing, despite all on your plate!