Friends, today is our Thursday in our live series where I am going through each day of the Holy Week and letting you know what was going on in Scripture on that day at that time. Today is no different. If you're just joining me, we've been doing this every day this week. I've been popping on, when I can, throughout the day to just teach a little bit about what was actually happening in Scripture. At this point, we are now at day four. We are at Thursday of Holy Week. Today is the day that reminds me of those moments in life where you know that something hard is coming and maybe you even wish that you could avoid it. Maybe you wish you could delay it or not walk through it at all. That's what the Thursday of Holy Week is all about. The truth Jesus didn't avoid it. Let me set the scene. By Thursday night, remember what's happened. Jesus had come into town, running on the donkey. He had turned over the tables at the temple. Judas had made this deal. The religious leaders were after him. Everything is in motion. This plan is in motion. Jesus knows. He knows exactly what's coming. Instead of running away, he gathers his people, the disciples, and he gathers them for a meal. I want to read just real quickly for you a handful of verses, six verses from Luke chapter 22 about the Passover meal. This is starting at verse 14. It says, when the time came, Jesus and the Apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, take this and share it among yourselves, for I will not drink the wine again until the kingdom of God has come. He took some of the bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So this is a Passover meal and I wanted to just spend a few moments talking about the Passover meal. See, Passover wasn't just any meal. It was actually a memory. It was a reminder of the moment that God rescued his people from slavery back in Egypt. If you go all the way back to the Old Testament to Exodus chapter 12, you'll remember that God tells the people, take a lamb, a spotless lamb, and sacrifice it. And then they were to take that blood of that lamb and put it on the doorposts of their home, because that night judgment was coming. But when God saw the blood of that spotless lamb, he would pass over that house. Death would pass over the house that was marked by the blood of the lamb. Every year after that, they would gather together and they would remember the moment that God rescued them, that God covered them, that God made a way for them to live when it seemed to be impossible. And so this meal, it wasn't just symbolic for them. This was their story. This was part of their culture. They would have understood this Passover meal. And now Jesus is sitting at that exact meal, the same meal that had been pointing back to Egypt for generations. And now he changes it when he says, this is my body. This is my blood. He's not just explaining something to them. He's redefining everything that they had been remembering. He's basically saying that lamb that you've been remembering, that was me, that rescue that you've been celebrating, that is me, that covering that you've been relying on. It's all pointing to me, which that means from this point forward, there's going to be no more repeated sacrifices needed. There's no more temporary covering because Jesus is the final covering. He's the final sacrificial lamb. And so what they had been remembering every year was about to get ready to happen in real time. But they didn't fully realize it yet. Jesus is becoming the Passover. Then something unexpected happens. Jesus gets up and he starts washing their feet. Now remember, in that culture, this was the job of the lowest servant of the household. No rabbi would ever do that job. And so what we're seeing is at this meal, this king that they grew up waiting for is on his knees serving them. What's more than that? Jesus was sitting at that table, but so was Judas. And Jesus knew that Judas would betray him. And still he washed his feet. Think about that. Jesus knew that Judas was getting ready to betray him and he still washed his feet. This is the moment that Jesus starts preparing them. And so it's not about this fact that they're just having this meal together and he's having one last hurrah with his buddies. He's helping them to get ready to understand what's coming. Now I want to go to Matthew 26. Yeah, Matthew 26. I'm going to read just 10 verses. So bear with me, starting at verse 36. I want to talk about what happens next when they get to the Garden of Gethsemane. Okay, so they go to the Garden. It says, Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane. And he said, Sit here while I go over there to pray. He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. He went on a little further, I'm bowed with his face to the ground praying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, couldn't you watch with me for even one hour? Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation for the Spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done. I just want you to think about this for a minute. Gethsemane is the name of the Garden that they're in. Do you know what Gethsemane means? It's actually the name of the press that was used to crush the olives, to extract the oil. And Jesus is getting ready to be pressed. He says, if it's possible, let this cup pass for me, but not my will, only yours. See, Jesus felt the weight of what was coming, and he still chose obedience. It's not like this was easy for him. He felt it fully. He was fully God, but he was also fully man, and still he surrendered anyway. Of course, we can't compare ourselves to Jesus. He's the standard, and we know that we're never going to measure up the set of heaven. But I think the thing that sits with me in this story is this idea of obedience. Abedience is not always comfortable. Sometimes it's heavy and costly, and it feels like even though we're surrendered, we still wish that God would change the circumstances. Those are very human emotions that Jesus had too. And so if you're in a season with surrender and the obedience that God is calling you to feels heavy, it's okay. Jesus felt that too. We go on to keep reading, verses 47 through 56, you can read it on your own. But essentially what happens is Judas arrives, and he betrays Jesus with a kiss, which in that culture especially, it was a sign of affection, but it was used now as betrayal. And Jesus isn't surprised by this. In fact, he steps forward. And so what happens by the end of Thursday night? Jesus is arrested. The disciples are scattered, and everything is about to fall apart. Or it seems that way, because the reality is as much as it may feel like it, this is not chaos. This is the plan of God unfolding. The very reason Jesus came, the very reason he was born, is beginning to unfold. Friend, if God is calling you to obedience today, even if it feels heavy, or maybe even chaotic, I want to just encourage you that sometimes that's how it happens. He loves you. He has a plan for your life. And no matter what you're going through, he's not going to leave you. He's going to be with you and enable you to choose that obedience. He's going to be with you in those moments that feel heavy. And so my prayer is that this week especially, you would look to him in those moments that feel heavy, even when surrender causes something. Tomorrow we're going to be talking about what it meant when Jesus stepped onto the cross. And so if this little mini series is speaking to you, I'd encourage you to come back tomorrow as we continue to follow along this week, holy week. Thanks for listening, friends.
