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!!! 

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.

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. 

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.

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!

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.
 
 

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.
 

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.

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
 

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. 

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.  

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. 

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.), a stumbling block to many. 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. It appears, however, that a closer acquaintance with fig trees would have prevented such misunderstandings. ‘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. The fact that Mark adds these words shows that he knew what he was talking about. When the fig leaves appear about the end of March, they are accompanied by a crop of small knobs, called taqsh by the Arabs, a sort of fore-runner of the real figs. These taqsh are eaten by peasants and others when hungry. They drop off before the real fig is formed. But if the leaves appear unaccompanied by taqsh, there will be no figs that year. 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, that the absence of the taqsh meant that there would be no figs when the time of figs came. For all its fair foliage, it was a fruitless and a hopeless tree.” (Bruce, Are The New Testament Documents Reliable? [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.