monday

to celebrate the approach of easter, my dad has initiated a daily email to his sunday school class discussing what christ was doing on that same day some 2000 years ago.

this, is monday:

On Sunday, during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he was so delayed by the time he got to the Temple, that it was time to leave the city without, so far as we know, teaching. He stayed in Bethany, about two miles away, and probably at the house of his good friends -- Mary, Martha and their recently "arisen" brother Lazarus, whom Christ had brought back from the dead. Sunday was the only day he rode into Jerusalem on a mule -- which was to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy.

Monday is found in Matthew 21: 12-19; Mark 11: 12-18; and Luke 19: 45-48.

On Monday. as he walked to Jerusalem, he was hungry and saw a fig tree, but there were no figs on it. His disciples probably understood his disappointment, and the cursing of the tree, as related to other fig tree parables. To me, being a convert, it reminds me of one of the reasons I was attracted to the LDS church, and knew it was the true church -- "by their fruits ye shall know them." The LDS church was no barren or sparsely-blossomed fig tree, like so many other religions I had tasted -- it was full to overflowing of good fruit, and I am still savoring all the truths upon our tree.

When the Savior got to the Temple this time, he would not teach sacred truths without "cleaning" its outer courtyard first. "My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." He cast out all the salesmen and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers before he taught. Some new agers types do not realize that the Savior eternally demonstrates, like his Father, the two "arms" of true doctrine -- a mighty arm of justice, and an equally mighty arm of mercy. That is how he is the God of the New AND Old Testament. That is how he can show his righteous fury in the Temple courtyard so that all the "den of thieves" flee before him, and moments later, heals "the blind and the lame (that) came to him in the temple."

Just as there had been a chorus of Hosannas on Palm Sunday -- his triumphal entry -- now it is a chorus of specifically children who "cry" in the Temple courtyard, "Hosanna to the Son of David." Their adulation of Christ, and declaration that he was the Messiah (as the Son of David) "displeased" the chief priests who urged him to silence them. The previous day, he had told the dissenters that if he silenced the crowd, the very rocks would cry out in exultation. At this point, he says that "perfect praise (comes) out of the mouth of babes ..."

Mark adds that the angry priests "sought how they might destroy him." In fact, the chief priests had been plotting to destroy Jesus since he had raised Lazarus from the dead. It was a miracle they could not dispute, and which most threatened their power and hold on the people. The scriptures say that "from that day forward" they sought to put him to death. Their resolve continues, then, Monday at the Temple when he tossed out all the merchants.

For safety, he returned the two miles to Bethany before the gates of the city of Jerusalem were closed.

-DVA