Tuesday of Holy Week
Tradition tells us that the Olivet Discourse, a teaching by Jesus found in Matthew 24 and 25, was preached on the Tuesday of Holy Week from the Mount of Olives, found just east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is not an easy teaching by any means, which is consistent with the mood of the week. Jesus has already spent time in Jerusalem sharing lessons and parables about the kingdom while enduring the schemes and traps of the religious leaders, who want to trip him up and create an excuse to have him arrested. Jesus cleverly evades their theological machinations and turns the tables on them, confronting those entrusted to care for Israel with their own hypocrisy, wickedness, and spiritual blindness. After one such encounter, Jesus leaves the temple grounds with his disciples and remarks that the temple itself will one day be razed to the ground. After they arrive at the Mount of Olives, his disciples ask him, “When? When will these things happen? What signs should we be looking for?
Jesus’ answer to their question becomes the Olivet Discourse.
The picture of the end times that Jesus paints in Matthew 24 and 25 is one that has been debated by theologians time and again, and will be until the words in those passages come to pass. It isn’t fruitful, especially during Holy Week, to get too distracted by the desire to “figure it out.” What is helpful is to draw from it some simple, yet important, spiritual truths and principles:
Jesus will return.
Nobody knows when Jesus will return except God himself.
The days leading up to his return will be fraught with chaos, in both the spiritual and natural realms.
His return will bring a revelation of each person’s soul.
The people of God, while they wait for his return, should be wise and expectant.
Jesus thought it important to share this teaching with his disciples in the days leading up to his crucifixion, so it makes sense for us to ponder it as well as we journey through Holy Week. But in a world that is already filled with so much chaos and confusion, perhaps it’s not wise to dwell too much on the specifics. Maybe it’s enough to be reminded that God has a plan, and that history is heading someplace.
Maybe what we need most of all is a reminder that when all is said and done, we will be where we are supposed to be. We will be with the One who has created us, loved us, redeemed us, and sustained us.
When all is said and done, we will be home.
Scripture for Meditation:
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
—Colossians 3:1-4 (NRSV)
Song: I Will Bring You Home (lyrics here)
Questions for Reflection
How does contemplating the return of Christ impact your reflections during Holy Week? Spend some time sitting with the wonder of his return, knowing that God is unfolding his plan for history and for your life.
Jesus says of his return, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36, NIV) If we are not meant to know, why do you think so many followers of Jesus become so concerned with figuring it out? How comfortable are you living with the mystery?
Michael Card’s song says that while we wait for God to rescue us from this “fearful, fallen place” he will be our home. What does it mean for you to make your home in God while you wait for the home he is preparing for all his children?