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| FINAL GLIMPSES OF JESUS |
| The most important week in history. |
| But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 23:23 |
| Everything about Jesus seemed to come together during his last few days on earth, and surely those days offer a key to understanding him. As if on a roller coaster, people's reactions to him plunged from heady exhilaration to murderous rejection overnight. Those last days included one scene of triumph, a grand entry into Jerusalem. Pilgrims were filling the streets in holiday celebration. In a gallant gesture for Jesus, they laid their coats before him, and they roared their approval as he approached. But against that tumultuous background, Jesus sat weeping, painfully aware that their praise was hollow. Even as Jesus' popularity with the masses was soaring, spies joined the ranks of onlookers, assailing him with questions and verbal traps. Jesus knew he wasn't safe anywhere, even in an intimate gathering with his disciples. During his and his disciples' last meal together, one of the Twelve rose and left the room to bargain for Jesus' life. The Darkest Day and the Brightest At Jesus' arrest, the religious and political power brokers had a look at him at last. They had heard many intriguing rumors, and hoped he would perform for them like a magician (23:8). Jesus declined. He had never sought their kind of power, and would not then, even with his life at stake. Outside, the crowd that previously had shouted, "Blessed is the king!" took up a very different chant: "Crucify him!" Jesus' life was doomed. The one who had come to save the world was about to be destroyed by it. In two back-to-back closing chapters Luke records the darkest day in history . . . and the brightest. No one was more surprised than Jesus' disciples to hear reports that the man |