Holy Week Day One: Welcome the King!

Introduction to Holy Week Bible Study

As preparation for Easter, it has been a dream of mine to write a devotional Bible study for each day of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday. It carries us through Mark chapters 11 through 16, and follows Jesus' final steps leading up to his death, day by day. 

I want to make it a journey of our hearts as well, clearing the way to let his sacrifice on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter to make the best impact. I do not want to be deadened to this story just because I have heard it and read it so many times in the past. I want the observance of this holiday to renew and re-ignite a passionate love for God in my heart. Even more so, I wish to experience--as if it were the first time--the unfathomable love that God has for me.

As I share this Bible study with you, I pray you also share in that experience. As we re-dedicate our lives to Jesus, placing him in first place in our hearts and making him our greatest focus this week, I pray that God responds to each of you in a personal way.

So get out your Bibles, and let's get started!

Day One: Palm Sunday

Bible Passage: Mark 11:1-10

(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+11%3A1-10&version=NIV)

The words that this passage makes me think of are Obedience and Worship:

Obedience: Imagine this day as a disciple of Jesus. You are travelling to Jerusalem like a normal Hebrew approaching Passover. You have walked most of the way there already. Yet as you approach, Jesus suddenly decides he wants a ride. So he asks you to get one, in a way that makes you look like you are stealing it. You are supposed to walk up to a random (yet somehow very specific) donkey's colt, and untie it like you own it. When you are confronted about your behavior, your instructions about your reply are not "Ask for permission to borrow this donkey so that Jesus can fulfill a prophecy". It is simply "The Lord needs it, and will send it back shortly." And, somehow, it works.

Jesus was not borrowing a donkey from a person. He was borrowing it from his Father, who had placed it in the care of a steward until it was needed. However, his disciples would not have known that. Yet they obeyed Jesus' instructions to the letter and without hesitation. Wow!

Because of their obedience, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey's colt, fulfilling the words of Zechariah 9:9

"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

God was weaving such a bigger story than the disciples could hope to see. They were simply gathering the final piece to the puzzle that God had been assembling for hundreds of years.

Worship: Hosanna! Save!

"Lord, Save us!

Lord, grant us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

From the house of the Lord we bless you.

The Lord is God,

and he has made his light shine on us.

With boughs in hand, join the festal procession

up to the horns of the alter."

~Psalm 118:25-27

Yet again, we find humans unknowingly playing along to a script that God had written hundreds of years earlier. They used worship to welcome their King into his city, and their High Priest into his temple. Most people jump straight ahead to just a few days later when the crowds of Jerusalem shout a different message. But I don't want to cheapen this moment; this day. 

I can imagine it so well: The press of the crowd. The unified, deafening noise punctuated by individual shouts of praise. The smell of freshly-cut green leaves being broken open as the donkey steps on them. The feeling that this moment is significant. This Man is something more. Something important is happening, and it is a good thing!

Such an overwhelming feeling longs to be expressed. Sometimes words are not enough, but we still have a burning desire to try.

Right Response:

As was stated in the introduction, one of our goals this week is to put God in his rightful place in our hearts again. That is what worship is! We praise him for who he his, for what he has done, and for what he will do.

Another way to put God in his rightful place is through obedience. When we obey God, it is an acknowledgement of his authority over us. 

What better way is there to start this week than with Worship and Obedience? 

I saw a church sign that read "Lent is Spring Training for Christians". I think that is a pretty accurate description of what I'm trying to do here. I want to use Holy Week as a way to take some time to prepare my heart to follow Jesus this year.

This is what I encourage you to do today:

• Welcome Jesus into your heart with worship. Just like Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem with worship, you can welcome him into your heart as well. One of the best ways to defeat the temptations and desires of our sinful nature is to glorify God. The sinful nature wants nothing to do with that! Worship is a powerful heart opener. So set aside some time today to meet privately with God and give him glory in your life. Whether that means making music, listening to music, writing music, or just saying out loud how much he means to you and how deserving he is. Your soul knows how to glorify its Creator it your own personal way. It does not matter what is going on in your life right now, God is still worthy of your worship. He does not have to earn it, because he already has. So give him the glory he deserves, as a way to welcome him into your heart this week and for the coming year.
•  As far as obedience goes, there is not much preparatory work to that. When God tells you to do something, you do it. But you can reflect on our story today, and use it as a reminder that God needs to be obeyed even when we don't know what on earth he's doing.

Holy Week Day Two: Clear the Temple!

Day Two: Clearing the Temple
Bible Passage: Mark 11:11, 15-19
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+11%3A11%2C+15-19&version=NIV)

If you think about it, this passage is scary. We see a zealous anger in Jesus that does not match up with the perfect, smiley, Sunday-school version that we like to box him up in. It lets us know that even though God's wrath has been set aside from us, he can still be jealous if we set up something else in his place.

Another thing that sticks out to me is the fact that this outbreak was intentional. It was not spontaneous. Jesus had seen the temple on the previous day when he entered Jerusalem (verse 11), and he looked around at everything. Yet he waited until the next day to come back and give them a piece of his mind.

It is sobering to realize that God is so passionate about his meeting place with people. Yet I realize that it is not the place that is important to him, but the people who use it. Can you imagine going to the temple of Jesus' day--the only place to experience God's presence--hoping to pray and meet with him privately, and then enter to the noise of a marketplace? You walk into the sanctuary, and try to concentrate, but all you can do is hear bleating, cooing, mooing, and bartering? It would spoil the whole experience! Imagine how God felt, having each and every personal meeting--that is so precious to him--be interrupted that way! No wonder he broke out in a rage!

Right Response
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
~1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Our hearts are now the place where God meets with us. Which means that the same passion that drove Jesus to turn over tables, drives God to jealousy toward anything that comes between him and us in our hearts. Yet in my experience, it is much harder to keep a heart clean and orderly than is a physical building!

That is why we need to let Jesus do what he did in Jerusalem: look around our hearts--his new Temple--for anything out of order, and drive it away with his authority and zeal.

This can be one of those Kingdom principles that is "easier said than done". But Jesus is willing to do it. And we are not the enemy he is driving out. Instead, he will bring in his light and banish all darkness from every corner of our soul. So letting him in should not be a scary prospect. Just be prepared: if we have set up anything in God's place, it will be hard to let go of it, but it is also necessary.

You know who Jesus is. You know that he wants the best for you. He is not selfish in demanding the highest place in our hearts. He has bought that place at a very high price. And we already gave it to him when we invited him to be the Lord of our hearts. We just get distracted sometimes. And we may not even know it. That is why it is so important to be deliberate about giving him free reign to do some rearranging in our hearts every once in a while.

Here is what I challenge you to do today:

• Let Jesus look around his temple. Humble yourself absolutely to his scrutiny. Don't just assume that you are alright as you are, and don't assume that you know everything that is coming between you and him. It can be easy to fall into that trap. But make sure that any conviction you feel is from the Holy Spirit. He knows his temple better than you do.

          "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me." "Search me, God, and know my heart; test              me and know my anxious thoughts." ~Psalm 139:1, 23

• Let Jesus clear his temple. Take anything he points out in his scrutiny, and make sure he knows that he is more important to you. Also make sure that your flesh knows it too. Hard as it is, you know you cannot fully realize Jesus' sacrifice until he is your main focus again. In order to realize his love for us, we need to love him. And in order to love him, we need to know how much he loves us. Neither of those things can happen until the Holy Spirit has free reign once again in our hearts. The benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort. So focus on Him and what he is giving you, not on what you are giving him.

When you have done this, your heart will truly be a house of prayer!

Holy Week Day Three: Jesus' Authority

Day Three: Jesus' Authority
Passage: Mark 11:12-13, 20-33
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+11%3A12-13%2C+20-33&version=NIV)

There's two parts to this day: the Questioning of Jesus' Authority and Finding the Withered Fig Tree.

Jesus' Authority Questioned
I love this part of the story of Jesus. I love watching him dodge every trap people set for him, and respond perfectly to every question. Jesus knew that the priests and teachers of the law would not believe the truth about him. He knew who they truly were, and therefore he knew their motives. Yet by the same token, they refused to see who he was, and so would never know what motivated him and gave him his authority.

Jesus' authority was absolute, because he'd been given the authority of God (Matthew 28:18).
As God, he was (and is):

• In direct command of all of Creation. That is where his miracles came from. They stemmed from his absolute right to correct what was broken in the world.
• The source of the Law. That is where his teachings came from. He was telling people the heart behind the words, and the motives behind the requirements.
• The embodiment of Love. That is where his lifestyle came from. His love perfectly fulfilled the Law, and was his greatest motivation for submitting himself to the cross. He loved God perfectly, he loved people perfectly, and he loved his enemies perfectly.

Once we realize who Jesus is, we know exactly where his authority comes from. And as the supreme commander of Creation, he was also able to perform this interesting miracle--one that brought death instead of life:

Finding the Withered Fig Tree
On day 2, Jesus curses a fig tree. Then on day 3, the fig tree is found to be withered from the roots. Its very life was sucked dry when God's sustenance was removed.

When I read this story, my first thought is "How unfair! It wasn't the tree's fault that it wasn't the season for bearing figs." And yet, in the light of knowing Jesus' authority, I can see something interesting. The fig tree had been created by God and sustained by him for one purpose: so it could bear fruit to feed the hungry. Jesus' curse was justified by the fact that the tree had failed its purpose. It did not deserve to live any longer.

I also think the miracle itself is interesting. God had been sustaining the life of that tree for years. Yet as soon as Jesus spoke against it, removing its source of life, it died. There was no hope of revival, because even the roots were withered.

If you compare this story with our lives, it's sad to think that Jesus may approach one of his trees to find fruit, and yet only find leaves. If we look at it that way, this story is also a warning. Jesus will look for fruit, and it may not be when we are prepared to give it to him. If that is the case, what was the point of living? Bearing fruit was the only function of that fig tree, and it is also what God expects of us in this life.

So how do we make sure that our fruit is always in season when he comes looking for it?
"On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month."
~Revelation 22:2

The life of the fig tree came from God, and in the same way, so did its fruit. Our source of life is the same.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
~John 15:5

The way a tree bears fruit is by finding and remaining in a source of life. For most, the source of life is a combination of sun, water, and oxygen. For us, it is a combination of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must be connected in order to stay alive, and we must remain connected in order to produce life.

But what fruit are we to bear? There's three answers I have:

1. The Fruit of the Spirit. "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22) When the Holy Spirit is invited to remain in us, with nothing getting in his way or holding him back, this is the fruit that is naturally produced in our lives.
2. The Gifts of the Spirit. "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines." (1 Corinthians 12:7‭-‬11) "But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying... they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”( 1 Corinthians 14:24‭-‬25). Fruit is evidence of having a healthy relationship with the source of life. If you are connected to the Spirit, the evidence will be there, and it will be a witness of God's greatness to the world.
3. Finding the Lost. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives." (Proverbs 11:30) The harvest that God longs for the most is the harvest of souls. He wants his banquet hall to be full to bursting! And he has given us the great privilege, and also the great responsibility, to be used by him in reaching this goal.

I know you likely knew all this already. But let me remind you again that we are here to renew our walk with God, which sometimes means being reminded of the basics of our faith: God wants a relationship with people, and he wants to use people to reach people.

Right Response

This is what I challenge you to do today:

• Acknowledge Jesus' authority in your life. Acknowledge the source of that authority. Do not question what Jesus is or isn't allowed to do. Just rest in the fact that whatever he does, it will be for your good. He wants what is best for you, and so will always act in that interest.
• Examine your life for fruit. Are you seeing the fruit of the Spirit being shown in your heart and in your actions? Are you seeing yourself being used by the Spirit to impact those around you?
• Assure your connection to the Tree of Life, whose fruit is never out of season. If you see fruit missing, ask God why. His perspective is better than ours. He is the gardener who is tending you, so he will know why you aren't producing fruit correctly. Make sure you heed the instructions that Jesus gave his disciples before his Ascension: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." (Acts 1:4) Do not try to do what God has called you to workout him! It just won't work.

Important note: trees grow slowly! Don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to those around you. If a tree is planted a couple years before another, of course it is going to show more fruit at first (and will continue to if they persist in their walk with God correctly). Focus on what God has for you. He knows what he's doing, he knows where you are, and he knows when you will be ready. I want you to speak to him and find out if he is convicting you, or if you are under attack by guilt. If your conviction comes from looking at your own life ("I don't see what God wants to see in my life, according to God's Word"), you are being convicted by God through his Spirit and his Word. But if you're conviction is coming from looking at someone else's life ("I don't see in my life what I see in theirs"), you are being attached by guilt and need to fix your eyes on God, so that you can see your life through his eyes. There is a difference between guilt and conviction, and the only way to know what you are feeling for sure is to ask.

What a Waste!

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.  When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
Matthew 26:6‭-‬8‭, ‬10 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.26.8-10.NIV

When we pour out our lives on Jesus' feet, with no regard to cost or humiliation; when people see what we give up and what it gains us, they may say "what a waste!" And/or "I could have used that, don't you care about me?"
This ridicule didn't come from outsiders, but from Jesus' disciples. Sometimes, it's fellow Christians--the ones who ought to be encouraging us and spurring us closer to Jesus--who will tell us to back off in our passion and put it to use elsewhere. But Jesus came to her defence. He didn't think it was a waste. He didn't think the poor could use it more than he could. He accepted her gift and called it beautiful.

There's a couple things I get from this:
1. Give Jesus the best of everything you have. Don't save him until last, but put him first. People may be slighted because they're selfish and they want you to put them first just like they have. But anyone else who has put Jesus first will tell you he's worth it.

2. Nothing you give Jesus will go unnoticed or unappreciated. He won't think there was any better place for it. He will call it beautiful, and will defend you against anyone who says otherwise.

3. I don't ever want to be the sister who tells someone to put their offering somewhere else. I don't ever want to be the one who ridicules a fellow Christian for their passion for Jesus when it's burning at it's hottest. I want to be the one to fan the flame. I want to be the their second best defender against such people.

4. Ridicule has two roots in this story: selfishness and guilt. We ridicule someone's gift either because we wanted the gift for ourselves, or because we're covering up the shame we carry because we weren't willing to give the same gift.
If someone gives God time, and you wanted them to give that time to you, that's when you become "indignant".
And if God calls you to give you some of your time, and you don't say yes, you're much more likely to notice when someone else does. And when you see them do it, you're convicted (and therefore uncomfortable) so you want to put a stop to it by embarrassing the other person into silence.
In order to not respond with selfishness when someone gives something to God, we have to have given up any claim we had on it. 
And in order to not respond out of our guilt or conviction, we should humble ourselves, repent, and follow their example by being obedient.

If we're to respond properly to anyone who gives their best to God, we have to have already done the same thing. And when everyone in the Church has given God their best--when they have put him first in their lives--he will then have first place in the whole Church. He will be it's head, as he should.

I Will Waste My Life -Misty Edwards

A Lamp and a Pharisee: Shining vs Showing Off

Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

When I read this, I was reminded of another teaching of Jesus:
Matthew 6:1 "Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven."

On the surface, these verses seem to contradict each other. Which is why I stopped to think on it further.

What's the difference between "letting your good deeds be seen" and "doing your good deeds publicly"? It's the difference between shining and showing off. Whose favor are you hoping to gain? Are you doing it for God's glory or your own? Will you receive all the reward right away, or is the majority of it being stored up in the Kingdom?

I considered the contexts as well. In chapter 5, Jesus just finished saying that you will be blessed for being persecuted because of him (5:10-11). Letting your light shine ties in with that: don't let fear of pain or insult hold you back.
Whereas chapter 6 is right in the thick of outlining how our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20), who were known and praised by all for their "good deeds".

Basically, to me it seems like these verses are saying "don't be ashamed of who you are as a child of God, but don't try to prove/earn your righteousness by your own power"

I personally struggle with both of these. On the one hand, when people notice something about me that's different, I tend to shrug the comment off with some logical explanation instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to explain why I'm different. On the other hand, it's easy for me to fall into flaunting my "righteousness" and thinking too highly of myself. Especially around Christians.

I grew up being more "mature"--in my mind--than everyone else my age. It turned into an internal competition to be better than the Christians around me. I held myself to a higher standard, which resulted in me looking down on everyone else. I was quite the little Pharisee. Those of you who have known me our whole lives probably noticed that, and you deserve an apology for my attitude whether you noticed or not.

Fortunately, no matter my flaws God is still willing to work with my heart and my attitude. He put me in a position where I was purposefully admiring the people around me, in order to encourage them and build them up whenever I could. My admiration for others eventually wore down my admiration for myself. After all, it's quite humbling to be genuinely admiring children. And over the years, he's also made me a kind of unofficial leader, which strangely made me more humble. The pressure to live well stopped coming from competing with those around me, and started coming from a desire to set a good example, which somehow seemed harder.

I'm grateful for everything God has helped me with when it comes to doing good deeds in order to be admired by others. Though I still have a long way to go when it comes to letting my light shine, especially at work. But, when I think about it, maybe it's not as much up to me as I think. If I truly am a lamp, then God is the one who lit me and put me on a stand. A lamp doesn't have to TRY to stay lit, concentrating on pushing its light to the corners and displacing the darkness. It's the nature of darkness to disappear in the presence of light. And it's the nature of a lamp, when it's a good one, to shine. It's what it was created for.

So maybe for me it's not about how hard I try, but about being who God created me to be. I still have a fear of speaking to people to overcome, but if God could humble this Pharisee, I'll bet he can light this lamp too.

Our Wounded King

I was going through some old notes this week and found this poem that I wrote in October, 2015. I was waiting to post it until Good Friday, because it's about the crucifixion:

Every promise was fulfilled

Every prophet proven right

Because you saw our hopeless state

Pouring out your love that night

You were looked upon with scorn

Beaten, wounded, drowned alive

Broken down from inside out

Friendless, none stood by your side

Oh, what heavy love is yours!

That you would do so great a thing

We stand in awe of you again

As we look upon our wounded King!

Pierced for love, hung for peace

Hands stretched wide to bring us in

We laughed at you as our roles reversed

Killing you for our own sin

Such agony was laid on you

Yet even that was not the worst

Your own Father chose to turn away

Unable to be with one who was cursed

Oh, what heavy love is yours!

That you would do so great a thing

We stand in awe of you again

As we look upon our wounded King!

Your accusors stood accused

Yet even that you mended too

Your cry for us with mercy rang

"They do not know what they do"

Forsaken by your closest friends

Mocked by those who hung beside

You looked ahead to the joy you'd see

When you gather in those left outside

Oh, what heavy love is yours!

That you would do so great a thing

We stand in awe of you again

As we look upon our wounded King!

Hours went by in such a state

Feeling everyone's every pain

Yet the story does not end in death

For in three days you rose again

Your punishment has brought us peace

By your wounds we have been healed

You tore the veil of seperation

In you, our victory is sealed

Oh, what heavy love is yours!

That you would do so great a thing

We stand in awe of you again

As we look upon our wounded King!

Forever we could sing of this

Your love, proven to be so deep

Your act gives us that very chance

To sing of you for eternity

We were weighed down by sin and guilt

But that all changed on your tree

The only thing that weighs us now

Is your love that set us free

Oh, what heavy love is yours!

That you would do so great a thing

We stand in awe of you again

As we look upon our wounded King!

The Crucifixion, from perspectives Old and New

Lately, I've been discovering some passages in the Old Testament that describe Jesus' crucifixion perfectly. The ones that especially stand out to me are Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. Many of the verses describe specific events from the night Jesus died. So the project I did was to take the Old Testament passages and combine them with New Testament verses that describe some of the specific events they point to, starting with Psalm 118 and Palm Sunday. The New Testament verses are in the K1-K10 footnotes. I hope you're blessed!

Psalm 118:22-29

²² The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

²⁵ Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.[K1] 
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.
²⁷ The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar[K2] .

²⁸ You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

²⁹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Isaiah 53

­­¹Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.[K3] 
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?[K4] 
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,[K5] 
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,[K6] 
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 22

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?[K7] 
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴ In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”[K8] 

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;[K9] 
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce^[e] my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.[K10] 

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

---

 [K1]Matthew 21: ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

 [K2]Revelation 7: ⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 

 [K3]Matthew 27: ¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

 [K4]Matthew 26: ⁶⁹ Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷² He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴ Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

 [K5]Matthew 27: ⁵⁷ As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.  ⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

 [K6]Matthew 26: ³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

 [K7]Matthew 27: ⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

 [K8]Matthew 27: ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

 [K9]John 19: ²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 [K10]John 19: ²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”^[a]

So this is what the soldiers did.