Jesus spent Wednesday of passion week in Bethany near His friends and, no doubt, in prayer to the Father. We should not assume Jesus had not prayed about His passion prior to His time in Gethsemene. The gospels make clear Jesus’ closeness with the Father and His desire to do the will of the Father. Jesus rested and prayed in anticipation of what would take place Thursday. The events of Thursday are found in Mark 14:12-72.

While the other days of this week called for emotional strength, nothing could compare with the demand of Thursday. On Thursday Jesus ate the Passover meal (the Lord’s Supper) with His disciples and disclosed that one of the twelve would betray Him. Shortly afterward He told Peter that he would deny Christ. Thursday’s events came quickly with each one being more difficult than the other.

Jesus went to the garden to pray with His friends but found them to be not responsive to His needs. They slept while He agonized in prayer. Immediately following, Judas arrived with a contingent of soldiers. Judas’ kiss betrayed Jesus.

Mark 14:51-52 gives us the only mention of a young man who followed until confronted by the captors. Was this John Mark? For a more complete discussion of the identity of the young man, click on this post about the young man in the linen cloth. 

Mark 14:53-72 describes the illegal trial before Caiaphas, the High Priest. Jesus revealed to the religious leader who He is. When Jesus said, “I am” Caiaphas understood the significance of the language. When Moses asked God His name, the Lord replied: “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:13-14). Caiaphas and the ruling council condemned Jesus to death.

Thursday ended with the part of this day that haunts all of us: “what would I have done if I had been there?” Simon Peter failed the test.

But here’s the good news. Jesus came for people like you and me and Simon. He came for sinners and sick people not those who always get it right. He came to take our sin on Himself. Though we do not have any righteousness, He died that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Today, let us reflect on His amazing grace. “While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Tomorrow and Saturday, I will have two posts each day. Please come back to waylonbailey.com during the day to view the second post.

Each day this week we will look at the what Jesus did during His last week of earthly ministry. Please join us each day as we discuss the events of holy week and their meaning for us. You may find these daily posts at www.waylonbailey.com on the pages 1 and 2 of the website..

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