Palm Sunday. The day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the city He loved and caused Him to weep. The people hailed Him as King, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had now seen.
And so marked the beginning of Holy Week. Or Jesus’ final week of life on this earth.
I woke up yesterday morning, Monday, with one thought on my mind …
What did Jesus do on Monday?
Seriously, what does one do after a reception and celebration such as He had been given?
Taking my coffee to my desk, I began to search for the answer. What did Jesus do on Monday?
Interesting to me, the next story in both Matthew (chapter 21) and Luke (chapter 19) is of Jesus entering the Temple. Perhaps it was Monday or Tuesday, we don’t know for certain. With as good with details as Dr. Luke was, he does not pinpoint the day for my inquiring mind.
What we do know for certain is Jesus was not happy with the activities being held in the Temple. He turned over the tables of the money changers and those selling doves. To them He said …
The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer’, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” (Luke 19:46, NLT)
After His triumphal entry, Jesus went right back to His Father’s business. Monday was a normal day. No fanfare. No taking a day off.
He cleansed and restored the Temple to its original purpose – to be a place of worship.
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20. NLT)
We may not know for certain which day of the week Jesus restored the Temple to a place of worship. What I do know is that He still restores temples today. May we let Him clean our temples, turning every corner of it over so nothing remains hidden and uncleansed.
May He prepare our temples and make us people who truly worship Him,
and Him alone.
“But the time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
(John 4:23-24, NLT)
Today I am joining … Trekking Thru the Week and #RaRaLInkup and Teaching What Is Good .
I love this reminder that after the big splash, it’s time to get back to work. Thanks for making the effort to answer your own question and then sharing your answer with your friends!
Michele, I so don’t want to approach this week with familiarity 🙂
We kind of tend to jump from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, don’t we? That’s kind of how it is in life, too. We jump from one big event (holiday, visit from family, project, etc.) to the next and don’t focus as much on what is in between. Your realization that Jesus got back to his Father’s business is so good because that’s what we need to do during the time in between the big events. I need to remember this!
Love this thought! The quote from Corinthians has always been one of my favorites. The power and authority are so appealing!