What a week!

In his gospel account, Luke records Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem on Sunday of Passion Week.

“And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it.and as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road. and as He was now approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'”

The Holy Week had begun with hundreds if not thousands of Jews and their families traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Some Pharisees in the crowd asked Jesus to rebuke His disciples, but Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Then Jesus wept over Jerusalem, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children with you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

About 40 years after this the Roman army led by Titus destroyed Jerusalem stone by stone including the Jewish Temple. That was then.

Matthew records Jesus' description of the fall of Jerusalem in chapter 24 of his gospel, but this description answers the disciples' questions, “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” We're still waiting for these things to happen.

Jesus depicts a time of extreme tribulation that far exceeds anything we've seen before. “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.”

Then Jesus pronounces the coup-de-gras saying, “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

During this Holy Week, 2024, we remember and celebrate Jesus' first coming to save us even in the middle of times that seem not that different from those 2000 years ago. The faithful among us find refuge in looking forward to Jesus' return to redeem us from the prince of the power of the air.

Will 2024 be the year Jesus returns while we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body?

Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at Pjandme2@ gmail.com.