Holy Week

It's Holy Week this week - the last week of Jesus' life. So, this week I have been reading this account in the book of Mark. I started on Sunday with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey - Mark 11:1-11. Then, I divided the rest of the chapters leading up to His death on Friday as follows:

Monday - Mark 11:12-33
Tuesday - Mark 12
Wednesday - Mark 13
Thursday - Mark 14
Friday - Mark 15
Saturday - nothing (Mark 15 ends on Friday and Mark 16 begins on Sunday)
Sunday - Mark 16

And that takes you through the account of the last week of Jesus' life.

When I was looking to begin on Sunday and trying to find the account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem, I was surprised how far back it was from the end. I've read through the book of Mark several times before, and saw so many familiar stories that took place after Palm Sunday. For some reason it never registered to me that all this took place the last week of Jesus' life. (Probably because I usually just read one little section at a time and try to focus on that and miss out on the bigger picture.)

Anyways, it has been interesting to re-read these things in the light of knowing that it is Jesus' last week on earth, and knowing that He knows that. If you knew that this was your last week on earth, what would you do? How does that compare to what Jesus spent His time doing?

I heard a teenage-ish aged boy speak during a sermon that I was listening to once. He was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. And he said how everyone always feels bad for him, knowing that he only has so long to live. But he said that he felt bad for the rest of us, because we don't know when we are going to die, so we live as if we will live forever, with no sense of urgency, when in all reality, any one of us could die before he does. And he at least will die knowing that he did what he felt was important with his last days, and we may not. I thought that was interesting.

Anyways, I look forward to reading through the rest of the account of the last week of Jesus' life and really thinking about the significance of it, as well as how my life would look different if instead of looking forward to my day off work on Friday and going to see one of my best friends, I knew that that would be my last day here on earth. Kind of interesting...