Dear Church Family,
I hope you are doing well and enjoying your March WELL readings. During this month, we are studying the books of Leviticus, Psalms and Acts. The book of Leviticus was written by Moses and is basically a manual for the priests and its many laws for all the Israelites. We are coming close to finishing our readings in Psalms. The Jews refer to the book of Psalms as “The Book of Praises.” I can understand why! It certainly has been rewarding to have a weekly reading from this book. Our New Testament readings for the month of March are from the book of Acts. Acts records the spread of Christianity to include the Gentiles, the formation of the new church and Paul’s missionary journeys. The book of Acts covers roughly a 30-year period of time.
One of the reasons I chose this month to write my WELL recap is because this year, Good Friday and Easter fall in the month of March. As I write this recap, we are in the last week of March. During this week, our readings are from the books of Luke and Isaiah, primarily. These daily readings focus on the final week of Jesus’s earthly ministry. These final eight days are referred to as Holy Week. Listed below is a brief timeline.
DAY 1: PALM SUNDAY
On the Sunday before His crucifixion, He began his journey into Jerusalem. He sent two of his disciples forward to find a donkey and its untamed colt. Jesus then makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey with the crowds waving palm branches and yelling “Hosanna to the Son of David”. This fulfills prophesy from Zechariah 9:9. Later in the evening Jesus and the disciples went to Bethany to stay at home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, who were his dear friends.
DAY 2: HOLY MONDAY-JESUS AT THE TEMPLE AND THE FIG TREE
On this day, Jesus and the disciples returned to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus cursed a fig tree because it wasn’t bearing any fruit. Later, Jesus cleared the Temple and overturned the tables of the money changers, saying “My Temple is a house of prayer and you have turned it into a den of thieves”.
DAY 3: HOLY TUESDAY
Jesus is again teaching in the Temple. His authority is questioned by the religious leaders who try to set up an ambush for him and arrest him. Jesus avoids them. Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives and gives the “Olivet Discourse”, speaking about the future destruction of Jerusalem and the end times.
DAY 4: SILENT WEDNESDAY
The Bible doesn’t say a great deal about what happened on Wednesday. Jesus was most likely resting in Bethany, preparing for the events of the next two days. It is thought that this was the day Judas made his deal to betray Jesus.
DAY 5: MAUNDY THURSDAY
Jesus and the disciples return to Jerusalem. They have the Last Supper together and later Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. In the garden Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested.
DAY 6: GOOD FRIDAY
Jesus is put on trial and wrongly convicted. Later that day he is crucified and then taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb.
DAY 7: SATURDAY
Jesus lays in the tomb. The tomb is sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers.
DAY 8: EASTER
The stone was rolled away. Jesus has been resurrected. “He is Risen”!
I intentionally gave little detail to encourage you to read about these days on your own. I hope you have a blessed week and look forward to seeing you on Good Friday and Easter.
Many blessings,
Tracy
