Passover

The threat of arrest never stopped Jesus from going to Jerusalem … The evangelist Mark concentrates on his last visit to the holy city and emphasizes his determination to reach it in time for the Passover feast.

Formation And Struggles: The Birth of the Church Ad 33-200, by Veselin Kesich

Despite spending much time in Galilee, Jesus would avoid two of its large cities: Tiberias and Sepphoris. Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, was built by Herod Antipas and dedicated to the Roman emperor. With Herod, the threat of arrest always hung over Jesus.

But this same threat never stopped Him from going to Jerusalem. He visited the city more than once, according to John. And, of course, it was the last city He would visit before His crucifixion.

Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ final Passover was charged with hope and fear. The population swelled from about 25,000 to 125,000 due to the influx of pilgrims from the surrounding provinces and the Diaspora.

Keeping in mind the situation: messianic expectations, opposition to what was seen as Roman cruelty, revolutionaries among the Jews and against the Romans. In such an atmosphere, any provocation, no matter how slight, was of concern to the Romans and deserving of response.

The Sadducees in particular had concerns about any prophet – considering all prophets (even those in the Scriptures) as false prophets. They believed that such false prophets would appear in Jerusalem, riling up the crowds to expect God’s intervention.

Jesus was aware of the consequences for himself that his preaching could produce. … Jesus regarded his death as an inevitable outcome of his last visit to Jerusalem.

Overturning the tables of the moneychangers at the temple wouldn’t improve the situation. In the Synoptic Gospels, this event is placed at the end of His ministry, leading directly to His death on the cross. John places this event early, therefore indicating that this event cast the shadow of the cross over Jesus’s entire ministry.

Mark interweaved the story of the cleansing of the temple with the withering away of the fig tree – a prophecy that the temple would be destroyed in the near future. Of course, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple…and its restoration – His body.

If the temple is not final, then neither is the law, the basis of temple worship.

Jesus did not abrogate the law, but fulfilled it. By doing so, He asserted His higher authority. It isn’t that Jesus is related to the law; the Law is related to Jesus. Christ, not the law, is the center of the faith. His disciples are to be totally committed to Him. Consider what this meant at the time of Christ; it continued to remain a bitter conflict between Jewish Christians and the leaders of Rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the temple.

The Last Supper is recorded in all of the Gospels, with John giving it extensive treatment. Paul’s account given in 1 Corinthians is the earliest written account of its celebration in the church. Further, he links the Last Supper to the death of Jesus:

1 Corinthians 11: 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

After the meal, Jesus and His companions went to Gethsemane. Mark presents Jesus as distraught and troubled. Jesus was under threat: Caiaphas pronounced his policy that it is better for one to die for the people, in order that the whole nation does not perish. Jesus knew His death was imminent. Yet, He would do His Father’s will.

Judas would lead those who would take Jesus away. He underwent two trials: before the Sanhedrin, where He was mocked as a prophet, and before Pontius Pilate, where He was mocked as king. While it was the Jewish leaders who desired Jesus’s death, it was left to the Romans to execute the punishment.

While historians debate details, it seems clear that the main opponents to Jesus were the Sadducees.

In order to preserve their privileged positions, the temple authorities collaborated with the Roman rulers. Caiaphas’ tenure as high priest for an unusually long period (AD 18-36) can only be explained by his way of dealing with and pleasing the Romans.

The Jewish historian Josephus would write that “Pilate at the suggestion of the principal men among us” condemned Jesus. The moment of Christ’s death, described with some variation in the Gospels, was seen by the earliest Christians as a moment of victory – a moral act of love and obedience.

They counted it an offering to God, a sacrifice.

Christ’s burial is included in the earliest Christian credal statements; it is central to the apostolic sermon of Peter on the day of Pentecost.

The very moment of Jesus’ resurrection was not an observable event and could not be captured in categories of time and space. Therefore, the Gospels do not narrate it.

Yet they describe in detail events immediately following. These post-resurrection events would make clear to the disciples just why the tomb was found empty, perhaps also therefore beginning to better understand some of what Jesus taught them.

These post-resurrection appearances were witnessed by many, and cannot be considered ecstatic experiences or the like. If these were not real, there would be no church and no New Testament.

Conclusion

Acts 2: 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

This is what Peter proclaimed.

Acts 2: 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Both Lord and Christ. exactly what this meant and how it would be worked out would be of primary importance to the Church in the coming centuries. But not yet, not today.

Those who received Peter’s words were baptized. Orders of magnitude more were added to their number in one day based on the preaching of Christ’s death and resurrection than were added in all of Christ’s earthly ministry. These formed the nucleus of the first Christian communities.

Not community, but communities. Why communities? We read of the many Christian communities in the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters, established before any recorded visit by any of the immediate disciples. So, to whom was Peter preaching?

Acts 2: 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

It seems likely that these were the first missionaries, taking back the Good News when they returned from Jerusalem to Colossae, Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus….

But before getting there, we still have work to do in Jerusalem.