For three days, darkness was over the land. Two of Jesus’ closest followers, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,” returned to his tomb in order to anoint the body of their beloved. The disciples were in hiding trying to make sense of the chaos, their hopes crushed by the cry, “It is finished.” But then we see the stone rolled away, an empty tomb, and hear that life was again thrust into the body of Christ.

The dream was dead. The One whom they hoped would usher in the Kingdom of God and set them free from their enemies had breathed his last. The text wants us to feel the dramatic reality of Jesus’ death. He really died. Pilate confirmed it. Then he handed over “the body” to Joseph of Arimathea who wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb. Furthermore, he lays him in his OWN tomb. Both Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw the location of this tomb. These are eyewitness accounts, claims written at a time when other eyewitnesses were still alive who could corroborate them. We are reading verifiable history. Jesus of Nazareth died and was buried and with Him the hopes of this world.

Jesus was arrested in the wee hours of Good Friday. He endured a series of harsh and unlawful trials that would extend until dawn. The sleeplessness and agony of the garden had weakened his body. His fatigue was exasperated in anguish throughout the long day to come. Caiaphas and Annas, the former and current high priests prompted false testimony and pronounced their judgment. The Sanhedrin pressured the Pseudo-Jewish King, Herod, and the Roman Governor, Pilate, to crucify the Lord of glory. Throughout the evening and early morning, he was mocked and beaten both by temple guards and Pilate’s soldiers.

Bread and wine were two common items at Jewish dinner. But this was no ordinary dinner. This was the Passover meal and Jesus was sharing it with his disciples, his betrayer at the table. This was a meal rich with imagery of a past salvation and yet pointed to a newer and deeper one. The Passover meal commemorated the Exodus, God’s miraculous rescue of his people from Egypt. He delivered them out of slavery and into life and freedom.

Jesus’ life is swiftly moving to its climax. The time of the Passover feast is a couple of days away. The significance of the timing could not be greater. The Passover was an annual Jewish feast which commemorated their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The original Passover involved the sacrifice of a lamb without spot or blemish. The blood of the lamb was placed on the doorposts and lintels of the house so that the angel of death (the final plague sent by God on the firstborn of Egypt) would “pass over” the house. It is at this current feast of Passover that Matthew tells us of the chief priests and scribes seeking to kill Jesus, the Lamb of God.

On this day of Holy Week, Jesus was teaching in the temple and a group of Jewish leaders approached him to continue their attempts to “entangle him in his words” and end his impact among “their” people. They asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar…?” A precisely calculated question and one that the leaders were sure was going to finally rid them of this “blasphemous” menace. In those days the Pharisees had vilified the ruling authority and taught the people, through oral tradition, that it was “sinful” to give them any respect at all, even paying taxes.

A passage like this calls us into question – have we perhaps profaned the worship of God? Are we so different from the scribes and chief priests? After all, our own heart is a breeding ground for idolatry, substituting the one mediator – Jesus for a lesser good, a lesser object. The cleansing of the temple is a reminder that Jesus is our temple, that we come to God through no other means than him, and that we must, in faith, expect him to supply our every need. Expectancy has everything to do with faith. John Calvin said, “To have faith in God means, to expect, and to be fully assured of obtaining from God whatever we need.”

After three and a half years of public ministry, Jesus’ time on earth is drawing to a close as we join this passage in Matthew 21. Jesus instructs a couple of His disciples to go ahead of Him and procure a donkey’s colt that He might enter Jerusalem one last time. This act will fulfill yet another Old Testament prophecy of his identity as Messiah! Zechariah 9:9 (ESV) declares: