Holy Week: Monday

Select your preferred podcast platform below or scroll down for the full script and links to reference materials.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breath. Inhale deeply, hold for two seconds, now breathe out all the tension, stress, or negativity in your body. One more time. Breathe in deeply, hold, exhale slowly all the way.

As your breathing returns to normal, gently turn your thoughts and attention toward the last week of Christ’s life, celebrated in many Christian traditions as the “Holy Week.” Although a precise chronology of Christs’ final days of mortality is not clear, most traditions place certain significant events on each of the days of the week.

Elder Gong describes the Holy Week this way: “The sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are the story of hosanna[, meaning “save now,”] and hallelujah[, meaning “praise ye the Lord Jehovah”]. Hosanna is our plea for God to save. Hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation. In hosanna and hallelujah we recognize the living Jesus Christ as the heart of Easter and latter-day restoration.”

Today, for the Monday before Easter, we will be pondering the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. Try to imagine what it would have been like to be each of the people mentioned in the story.

At some point after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ visits the temple. While he is there, he sees people buying and selling things within the temple walls. He sees groups of noisy, messy sacrificial animals being offered for sale. He sees people changing money so that templegoers can buy and merchants can sell. He cannot stand by while this is happening.

In an uncommonly emotional scene, Christ fashions a whip out of small cords and drives out all the merchants and the oxen, sheep, and doves they are selling.[1] He tells them “make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise”[2] and He casts out the people who are buying.[3] He pours out the money that the moneychangers are working with[4] and he turns over their tables.[5] He doesn’t let anyone carry any vessel through the temple.[6] He says, “It is written My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.”[7]

Once the animals and merchants have cleared out, and the temple is clean, Christ turns his attention to some blind and lame individuals who had come to the temple and He heals them.[8]

Some of the Jews who had witnessed the scene, clearly concerned at the authority which Jesus was claiming to act under, ask Him “What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?”

Jesus answers by saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Jews are shocked: the temple took forty-six years to build and this man is going to rebuild it in three days?[9] Nevermind the fact that he has been healing physical illnesses, forgiving sins, and calming stormy seas.

Nobody understands that Jesus is referring to the temple of his body.[10]

Take a few minutes to ponder this story. What would it have been like to be there as it was happening?

Imagine how the people who were buying and selling in the Temple felt when Jesus overthrew their tables and admonished them. How would you feel if Christ were with you during a typical day? Is there anything He would “cleanse” from your life like he “cleansed” from the temple?

Standing up for what you know to be right is scary. It was probably scary for Jesus too, who knew that certain groups of the Jews were intimidated by his power and his claimed authority, and were looking for any chance they had to bring a legal case against him so He could be sentenced to death. But Christ, knowing that death was part of his mission, chose to stand up for what he knew to be true. In what ways have you stood up for truth in your life, even when it put you at risk? Did you feel the power of God supporting you?[11]

Are there truths you are prompted to stand up for in your life now? 

When you are ready, take a final deep breath and slowly turn your awareness back to your body. As you open your eyes and return to your surroundings, take a moment to jot down any thoughts, promptings, or questions that came to mind while you were pondering. Continue to ponder the things that have come to your mind and your heart as you prepare for and celebrate the upcoming Easter Holiday.

______________________

[1] John 1:13-15; see also Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15.

[2] John 2:16.

[3] Luke 19:45.

[4] John 2:15.

[5] Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15.

[6] Mark 11:16.

[7] Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46.

[8] Matthew 21:14.

[9] John 2:20.

[10] John 2:21-22.

[11] Philippians 4:3 (“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”)