The Hope of Holy Monday
Meeting ID: 877 614 947
Password: 505 (our street address)
Opening Prayer
First Day: Morning Worship (from The Valley of Vision prayer book)
Holy Monday Video (by Justin Taylor)
Holy Monday Prayer (from “Everyday Prayers” by Scotty Smith)
[READER 1]
Lord Jesus, it’s Monday of Holy Week, and I’m deeply moved as I reflect on how profoundly troubled you were as the events of that week began to unfold. There was no doubt in your mind why you came into Jerusalem riding the foal of a donkey.
There was great conflict, but no doubt. There would be no surprises. You knew what was coming. In a matter of days, you would take the holy wrath of judgment day for all who will trust in you. At the end of the week, your “bruised heel” (Gen. 3:15) would secure the ultimate crushing and “casting out” of the “ruler of this world” (John 12:30)—Satan himself. At the end of the week, you would pay the supreme price that alone guarantees the redemption and “drawing” of men and women from every single nation, tribe, people, and language—a number as great as the stars in the sky, the sand of the beaches, and the dust of the earth. For this very reason you came from eternity into time and space.
[READER 2]
For this very reason you emptied yourself of your glory by taking the form of a servant-man—the Lord’s Servant. For this very reason the Father spoke thunderous words from heaven for our benefit. For this very reason you became obedient—even obedient to death on the cross. Understandably so, your heart was greatly troubled, Lord Jesus.
As the events of our week now unfold, grant us grace to survey the wonders of your cross with greater awe and gratitude than ever. In a time when many in our culture are marginalizing and minimizing, denying or dismissing your cross, may our boasting in your cross grow by all-time exponential proportions. We pray in the beauty and bounty of your most glorious name. Amen.
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 56:1-8 - Salvation for Foreigners
[1] Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.
[2] Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
[3] Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
[4] For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
[5] I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
[6] “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—
[7] these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
[8] The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
Gospel Reading: Luke 19:45-48 - Jesus Cleanses the Temple
[45] And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, [46] saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
[47] And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, [48] but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Holy Monday Reading (from ‘The Final Days of Jesus’ by Andreas J. Kostenberger & Justin Taylor)
[READER 1]
With the riveting events of the previous day still fresh in everyone’s mind, all eyes are on Jesus as he enters the city Monday morning. What will the recently hailed Davidic Messiah do to bring about his kingdom? Jesus wastes no time in answering this question by going straight to the temple.
From his visit the night before, he knows exactly what he will find there—moneychangers and merchants selling sacrificial animals in the Court of Gentiles. These profiteers prey upon the religious devotion of the Passover pilgrims who must pay the temple tax with a Tyrian shekel and present unblemished animals for sacrifice. Consumed by holy zeal and righteous indignation, Jesus overturns the tables and chairs of the moneychangers, throws out merchants and customers alike, and refuses entrance to any who are carrying goods for sale. He then begins to teach the people that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations (see Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11), not a den of thieves where the rich and powerful exploited the poor under the guise of facilitating worship of God.
[READER 2]
By these actions, Jesus directly challenges the Jewish religious leadership complicit with—and likely benefiting from—this glaring corruption of devotion to Israel’s covenant-keeping God. The chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people desperately begin looking for a way to destroy Jesus. Not only had he directly challenged Jewish authority, but the Romans needed no excuse to exercise force if there was any civil instability. In contrast, the common people love what they are seeing. Jesus is shaking things up and setting things right just as the Messiah was expected to do. At the same time, however, by cleansing the temple Jesus further seals his death sentence. Those in power will not put up with a challenge to their authority on this level. Jesus must die.
When evening comes, Jesus and his followers leave Jerusalem once again.
Reflective Questions
As followers of Jesus, we ought to be a people of prayer. We are fortunate in that we do not need to go to the Temple to meet with God, as we are God’s holy temple, with the Holy Spirit residing in us, both collectively and individually (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). We are fortunate in that Jesus not only commanded us to pray, but He also taught us how to pray and molded how to pray. When you reflect on your own prayer life, what are the greatest hurdles that prohibit you from prayer? What aspects of your daily life can you change to incorporate prayer as a daily rhythm?
What are you hoping for on this Holy Monday?
Silent Prayer
Closing Prayer
Study Questions (from “The Final Days of Jesus Study Guide” by Andreas J. Kostenberger & Justin Taylor)
Jesus’s ministry was normally focused on teaching and healing, but those things were not at the forefront of his mind on Monday. What “out of the ordinary” things did he do on Monday?
Why did Jesus describe the temple as a “den of thieves”?
What did Jesus teach that the temple should be?
Additional Scripture Readings
