This is part of a series of meditations on what Scripture teaches about each day of Holy Week, which goes from Palm Sunday until Easter, in which Christians everywhere mark the culmination of Jesus Christ’s ministry, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead.

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”  He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

-Psalm 2:1-6, ESV

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

-Deuteronomy 6:5, ESV

Tomorrow begins Holy Week in which all who hope in Jesus Christ commemorate the end of His ministry on earth, His atoning death, and His resurrection from the dead.  In an attempt to help Christians reflect on the events of the most important week in history, I will be posting daily throughout the week.  Since Scripture’s coverage of each day varies significantly, I will address the days with less coverage overall while focusing on specific events or details of days with more coverage.  Many of the events of that week were prophesied beforehand—some in great detail—showing that God is sovereign over all events and people, and that nothing that happened in Holy Week—or any other time—was an accident but was planned by God before the foundation of the world as part of His plan for salvation.  So for Holy Week I will open each post by citing the Old Testament, since all of the Old Testament is about Jesus (Luke 24:44).  To start, we need to set the stage by addressing the events immediately before Holy Week.

Plotting the Ultimate Sin

Shortly before Holy Week, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, which had caused many people to believe in Him.  This presented a problem for the Jewish leaders, as it could lead to an uprising that would upset the delicate balance of power.  The Jewish leaders at the time enjoyed a significant amount of autonomy from their Roman occupiers, who tolerated their religious differences as long as peace could be maintained.  But if that peace was threatened (which was quite possible with the rise of Jesus), the Romans would respond with force, removing the Jewish leaders from power and possibly even destroying the nation as a whole.  Thus, Caiaphas the high priest said “it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50b).  This seems like an expeditious (albeit cruel) way to resolve their problem, but John is quick to tell us that there was much more going on.  The statement from Caiaphas was not merely his own but was actually from God: “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” (John 11:51-52).  Recognizing this as a prophecy, the Jewish leaders had two choices.  Since the claims that Jesus was Messiah meant He was the rightful King, they should have recalled two situations in which God prophesied that someone currently in power would be replaced by someone else.  When David was told He would replace Saul as king, he trusted in God’s methods and timing, not raising a hand against God’s current anointed one despite prime opportunities to do so (1 Samuel 24:6-10, 26:9-23).  Conversely, Hazeal immediately used the prophecy of Elisha that he would be king as license to murder the current king of Syria and take over (2 Kings 8:9-15).  The Jewish leaders chose the latter, thus committing themselves to killing Jesus, thinking that the ends would justify the means. 

Yet even this heinous act—arguably the worst sin in history—was under the sovereignty of God.  “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).  In conspiring to kill Jesus, they were inadvertently fulfilling Psalm 2, raging and plotting in vain against Jesus the Messiah and therefore against God the Father (Psalm 2:1-2)—you can’t oppose one without opposing the other.  But God used their wicked plot as the means by which to set King Jesus on the throne of Zion (Psalm 2:6).  Still, God’s sovereignty does not absolve anyone of responsibility, especially here.  For God will not hold guiltless any who oppose His Anointed (1 Samuel 26:9, Matthew 25:35).

An Incredible Act of Love

The dinner in Bethany the night before Palm Sunday stands in stark contrast to the plotting of the Jewish leaders.  Martha, Mary, and Lazarus hosted Jesus at what was likely a feast in His honor following the resurrection of Lazarus.  They showed how much Jesus meant to them in their own ways.  Martha served the meal, displaying love for Jesus through service to Him.  What she had previously seen as a duty (Luke 10:40) she now saw as a joy.  Lazarus by his mere presence proclaimed the glory of Jesus by giving bodily evidence of His miracle of resurrection.  He was also risking his life by showing up so publicly, as the Jews were plotting to kill him in order to stop Jesus (John 12:10).  But the most astounding display of love for Jesus from these siblings came from Mary.  She anointed the LORD’s Anointed with very expensive perfume, filling the house with the fragrance.  She had once sat at Jesus’s feet to listen to His teaching (Luke 10:39), but now she poured perfume on them (John 12:3).  She also anointed His head with the perfume (Matthew 26:7, Mark 14:3).  Mark points out that this perfume was worth 300 denarii, which would have been about a year’s wages for most people at the time (Mark 14:5).  This was a great sacrifice, especially considering she had narrowly avoided being left destitute not long before.  This can be nothing other than an incredible expression of love for God in general and Jesus in particular. Even more incredible, the expressions of love from Lazarus, Martha, and Mary come before Christ’s work of Holy Week, so we should have even more love for Him than they did.

Jesus was moved by this selfless act and promised this story would be told wherever the Gospel is preached.  So it confronts us just as the Gospel does.  Do we love Jesus like that?  Is the area around us filled with the fragrance of our love for Christ that attracts other to Him?  We are the aroma of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15a), but that aroma has vastly different effects on people: the fragrance of life to those whom God has chosen to draw to Himself but the stench of death to those who are rejecting Him (2 Corinthians 2:15b-16).  Are we willing to give up our wealth, status, or job security for Christ as Mary did, or would we give up Christ to keep our wealth, status, and job security like the Jewish leaders did?   In heaven we will joyfully declare that Jesus is infinitely worthy (Revelation 5:12), so let’s start now.  What better time is there to proclaim the excellencies of Him who brought out of darkness and into His marvelous light than Holy Week?