On Monday night of holy week Jesus went to Bethany and we assume he and the disciples stayed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus... Then early on Tuesday morning they head back into Jerusalem. Jesus goes back to the Temple courts to teach there. After all the frustrations of yesterday, Jesus is willing to return. Willing to go back to the place where he had struggled. And he told a story about one son who said he would do something and didn’t, and another son who initially refused but then did it. And then a story of the owner of a vineyard who sent workers to collect the harvest, but were murdered… so he sent his son instead, in the belief that he would be respected… but he too was killed. So the owner would get rid of those tenants and put in new tenants who would give him his share of the crop at harvest time. The Pharisees heard him and knew Jesus was referring to them as the first tenants, so they were even more determined to get rid of Jesus. Only the fear of the crowd stopped them. Jesus continued teaching, leading to his powerful answer to the Pharisees’ question about the greatest commandment. Jesus tells them it is to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second, he says, is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets, Jesus says, hang on these two commandments.” Jesus goes on to ask the Pharisees what they think about the Messiah, and warns them against hypocrisy. It is as if Jesus is making this last attempt to open the eyes of the Pharisees. He is still not willing to give up on them. He never is. I am challenged by this deep commitment to those who chose not to understand.
Then Jesus heads to the Mt of Olives –and as they leave the Temple, the disciples comment on the beauty of the Temple, and Jesus tells them it will all disappear. When they get to the Mount of Olives, away from the busy city streets, Jesus sits with the disciples in the cool of the end of the day, and teaches them. He teaches them about what was to come, taking time to answer their many questions. I’m not sure they understand any more than the Pharisees did, but they want to learn.
Tuesday of Holy Week is a day of teaching... of Jesus teaching those who wanted to learn and those who didn’t. We too have a choice this Holy Tuesday: how will we respond to the teaching of Jesus? Our response will not change Jesus’ willingness to teach, but it will change us.
And so as we work our way through another day of Holy Week, .I light a candle beside my third square -moving from the triumphal entry, through the place of struggle, to the place of teaching…
