Tuesday of Passion Week
This week leads up to Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection. While many people may be familiar with Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, very few are as familiar with the days in between. Jesus didn’t just sit around and do nothing until He was arrested. So, let’s look at some of the events and teachings of Holy Week.
Scripture Reading – Mark 12:28-34 (ESV)
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Tuesday finds Jesus back in the Temple again. He spends time teaching the people using parables and later in the day explaining those parables to His disciples. During His teaching, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and the scribes try to trap Jesus by asking Him theological questions concerning the Law. They also ask a politically charged question about whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Their traps fail and by the end of the day, “no one dared to ask Him any more questions.”
One of these questions should have a great impact on believers today. Jesus is asked by one of the scribes, an expert in the Law of Moses, which of the commandments is the most important. Jesus responds, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This statement is important not just for the theological truth it holds, but for the lifestyle of obedience it calls believers to. Jesus instructs us “to agape God.” This is the love of the will, of choice, of sacrifice. Agape is motivated by our knowledge of who God is, the One true God and who is worthy to be praised. It is a love that we are incapable of outside of a personal relationship with Christ. Jesus drives this point home by adding the command to, “love your neighbor as yourself.” The word love is the same, agape. We are to love those God places in our lives with the same love He shows to us and we show to Him.
As we continue to consider Passion week, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal your level of love for Him and others.
Do we truly agape the Lord our God and our neighbor? Or do we only love Him and them when it is convenient for us?
Heavenly Father, help us to agape as You do. Teach us what it means to sacrifice all of who we are for Your sake and the sake of others. You told us that the world will know we are Your disciples by our love. It is our prayer that there will be sharp and unmistakable difference in the way your followers love others. In Your name we pray, Amen.