On this evening some 1,990 years ago, a group of guys (and maybe others, we don’t know for sure) gathered in Jerusalem in a large room probably provided by a rich guy for the annual ritual Passover meal.
Things seemed mostly the same as usual except for the strange teaching and comments from the Teacher.
They had experienced four days of being close to the center of the action as crowds of people listened to teaching and as their leader physically expressed anger at merchants ripping off pilgrims seeking animals for sacrifice at the Temple. They were sure the time was near when they would all be the religious/political leaders of Israel.
They got it wrong. Despite three years of teaching and a week of intense explanations, they still got it wrong.
Events of the following 24 hours completely destroyed their hopes and ambitions turning them into cowards hiding in fear.
This was the story of the Thursday and Friday of Jesus’ last week.
Jesus had taught that the time had come to turn the Roman world upside down. Instead of worship of power and authority of humans, the new age would worship God celebrating love, not power.
It took another 40 days for all this to finally sink in to the guys and gals who had followed Jesus for up to 3 years. But once they finally got it, they really did turn the Roman world upside down.
We need a resurgence of that attitude of love instead of power again in this era. That’s something to pray for as we head into the celebration of Easter.
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