The Hope of Holy Tuesday
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Opening Prayer
Second Day: God Over All (from The Valley of Vision prayer book)
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9
[4] The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
[5] The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
[6] I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
[7] But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
[8] He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
[9] Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Holy Tuesday Video (by Justin Taylor)
Holy Tuesday Prayer (from “Everyday Prayers” by Scotty Smith)
[READER 1]
A Prayer about Jesus’ Compassion and My Blindness
Dear Jesus, everything about Holy Week reveals the depth of your compassion for sinful, broken people just like us. The tears you wept coming into Jerusalem, even the anger you showed in driving the money changers out of the temple—every encounter, parable, and action gives staggering clarity to Paul’s words, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6–8 NIV).
Paul was writing about us. We are the powerless, ungodly sinner for whom you died, demonstrating God’s incomparable and irrepressible love for us. We were God’s enemy when you reconciled us to him through your death on the cross (Rom. 5:10). May we never believe otherwise.
[READER 2]
We would still be blind to what alone brings us peace if you hadn’t opened our eyes to see our need of you and your death for us. The gospel would still remain hidden from our eyes unless you had given us sight to behold you as the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. We can’t and we won’t sneer at a single Pharisee, Sadducee, priest, teacher of the law, or anyone else who tried to trick or trap you during Holy Week. We are just as worthy of judgment as they.
How we long for the day when we will no longer even be tempted to look for peace, for shalom, anywhere else but in you, Jesus. We yearn for the day when we will see you as you are and we will be made like you (1 John 3:1–3). This is our great hope. Until that day, keep healing the eyes of our hearts of all spiritual myopia, astigmatism, or anything else that keeps us from seeing the magnificence of your glory and the full measure of your grace. We pray in your tenacious and tender name. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Luke 20
The Authority of Jesus Challenged (Luke 20:1-8)
[1] One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up [2] and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” [3] He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, [4] was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” [5] And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ [6] But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” [7] So they answered that they did not know where it came from. [8] And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection (Luke 20:27-40)
[27] There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, [28] and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. [29] Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. [30] And the second [31] and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. [32] Afterward the woman also died. [33] In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
[34] And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, [35] but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, [36] for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. [37] But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. [38] Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” [39] Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” [40] For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
Whose Son is the Christ (Luke 20:41-44)
[41] But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David's son? [42] For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, [43] until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
[44] David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
Holy Tuesday Reading (from ‘The Final Days of Jesus’ by Andreas J. Kostenberger & Justin Taylor)
[READER 1]
On Tuesday morning, the crowds come early to the temple to hear Jesus speak (Luke 21:38). Will Jesus do anything today to match the excitement of the previous two days?
The chief priests, scribes, and elders immediately approach Jesus when he enters the temple and confront him concerning his actions on the previous day: “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” (Mark 11:28). They are the ones who have authority over the temple and its activities, and Jesus had no right to do what he had done. Depending on his answer—and there was no answer that would satisfy them—Jesus could be arrested for his actions.
In reply, Jesus turns the tables on them by promising to answer their question if they first answer his: “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” (Mark 11:30). The religious leaders are caught, unable to answer Jesus’s simple question. If they were to say, “From heaven,” the obvious follow-up would be, “Then why don’t the leaders believe in Jesus about whom John testified?” If they were to retort, “From man,” they would incur the wrath of the common people who hold John in high esteem as a prophet sent from God.
After Jesus has silenced the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees (a Jewish sect that denied the end-time resurrection of the dead) step forward to test him with a tricky theological conundrum (Matt. 22:23–33; Mark 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–40). Their question is designed to make Jesus’s belief in the resurrection look ridiculous. But by quoting God’s self-affirmation in Exodus 3:6, 15–16 to the effect that he is a God of the living, not the dead, Jesus once again turns the tables on his opponents.2 They marvel at his answer and, as do the others who tried to trick him, fall silent.
[READER 2]
At this point, Jesus goes on the counteroffensive against those who have been trying to trap him and asks them a question concerning the way in which Psalm 110:1 describes the Messiah as David’s Lord: How can he at once be both David’s son and his Lord? (Matt. 22:41–46; Mark 12:35–37; Luke 20:41–44). Being of Davidic ancestry posed no problem for the Messiah’s being Lord, but if this ancestry was interpreted as making him merely human, then there was a problem. Again, the opposition is utterly confounded: “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (Matt. 22:46).
Having established the inability of the Jewish religious leadership to answer Jesus’s questions, Jesus launches a lengthy, scathing critique of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23:1–39; Mark 12:38–40; Luke 20:45–47). He warns the crowds against those “hypocrites” and “blind guides” and pronounces seven woes of judgment against them. This full-scale verbal assault against the current religious authorities removes all doubt concerning Jesus’s intentions, agenda, and aims. He has no desire to ally himself with the current leadership; he has come to overthrow their authority and to replace it with his own. There is no way that both sides can survive the escalating conflict. It seems that either Jesus will come to assume power or face death.
With this overview of the early events of Passion Week in mind, we have a good foundation for our closer look at Jesus’s final days. The stage is set for the final act. The characters are in place. Their goals, motives, and intentions are clear. The king has come for his kingdom and has issued a clear and direct challenge to the reigning structures of political, economic, and religious power. The drama can end in only one of two ways. Either Jesus will topple the reigning powers and establish his messianic kingdom—or he will be killed. No one at that time could possibly comprehend that in God’s mysterious plan, there was a third option.
Reflective Questions
As sinful beings, we struggle with authority, even the authority of Jesus over our lives. Jesus is not only our Savior, but also our King and Lord. What areas of your life have you withhold from Jesus and failed to fully surrender to His authority? What step can you take today to begin to surrender to Jesus?
What are you hoping for on this Holy Tuesday?
Silent Prayer
Closing Prayer
Study Questions (from “The Final Days of Jesus Study Guide” by Andreas J. Kostenberger & Justin Taylor)
Mark 11:28 describes how the Jewish leaders tried to trap Jesus by his own words. How did Jesus turn the tables on them?
What three parables did Jesus proceed to tell? Try summarizing the main point of each parable in a single sen- tence.
Since coins (money) bear the image of the human ruler(s), and human beings (you and I) bear God’s image, what should be our response to Jesus’s instructions in Matthew 22:21? What do we give to God?
After responding to several traps disguised as questions, Jesus went on the offensive and asked several of his own questions. What reaction did he finally receive (Matt. 22:46)?
Within Jesus’s discussion of the future in the Olivet Discourse, what two major events were given the most at- tention? One of these events is past from our perspective today, but one is still future.
Jesus’s teaching about the future clearly communicates that his followers will experience increasing persecution and tribulation until the end. According to Jesus, how must believers respond to these difficulties? Does Jesus’s teaching about the future encourage or discourage you? Why?
Additional Scripture Readings
