by Pastor Paul Dugan
Stories are powerful. We are all being shaped by stories – stories that have been told to us by our families, our culture, and by ourselves. Marketers spend billions to paint pictures of the “good life” and put us into those pictures, IF we just consume their products and services. Whether we like it or not, whether we are conscious of it or not, we find our identity in stories. But not all stories are good for us. Stories can leave us disillusioned and enslaved, less than fully human as God intended us to be. But there is one Story that is grand and true enough to make sense of all our stories, the Story of God in Scripture. We believe the Bible is one unified Story leading to Jesus. And the whole Story comes to climax in the events of this week, the week we call “Holy.” As the church rehearses these events each year, we are re-grounded in God’s liberating Story of redemption. We are reminded why there is hope beyond our brokenness. I invite you to enter the Holy Week Story this week. Here’s how to begin:
First, let’s zoom out. Click here for a Bible Project video on how Jesus’ final week fits in God’s story of the Messiah.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to Jesus.
Read Luke 19:28-40
Put yourself into the story. What do you think your response would have been to seeing Jesus ride into Jerusalem that day? Cheering? Skeptical?
The crowds chant from Psalm 118:26. Read the whole psalm. What is “the stone the builders rejected” in Psalm 118:22? What kind of Messiah do you think the crowds expected? What kind of Messiah are people looking for today?
Talk to God about how you see Jesus. Lay your expectations down before him. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see Jesus for who he really is this week.
Read Luke 19:41-48
Jerusalem means “city of shalom.” But Jesus weeps over the city, wishing its inhabitants really knew the way to peace. But they would miss it. Sadly, the city and the temple would soon be destroyed by the Romans.
Shalom means wholeness. What are some ways you seek to find wholeness apart from Jesus?
Do you ever weep for others to come to know God’s shalom? Ask Jesus to help you see your city through his eyes.
Read Isaiah 56:3-8 and Jeremiah 7:1-11, the passages Jesus quotes as he un-clutters the temple. How is Jesus living into these stories?
What clutters your temple- the place where God wants to meet you? Practically speaking, how can you create sacred space in your life for him this Holy Week?
What clutters your life from making space for ‘outsiders’ to meet God with you?
Ready to take the next steps in the Holy Week journey?
Click HERE for the devotional guide, Jesus’ Final Week (IVP)