The Last Days of Jesus by Bill O'Reilly

Author:Bill O'Reilly
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

BOOK III

THE LAST WEEK DAY by DAY

CHAPTER 17

THE PASSOVER JOURNEY BEGINS

FRIDAY/SATURDAY, MARCH 30/31, AD 30 BETHANY

“We are going up to Jerusalem,” Jesus tells his disciples as they prepare to depart for Passover. “The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life.”

But if those words disturb the disciples, they don’t show it. For theirs has been a journey of many months, rather than the mere days of most pilgrims. After the Feast of Tabernacles five months ago, Jesus and the disciples did not return to Galilee. Instead, they began a roundabout trip. First stop, the village of Ephraim, only fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. From there they traveled as a group away from Jerusalem, to the border of Samaria and Galilee. And then when it came time for Passover, they turned in the opposite direction and marched south along the River Jordan, joining the long caravans of pilgrims going to the holy city.

The disciples now jockey for position during the walk to Jerusalem. James and John ask Jesus if they can be his principal assistants in the new regime, requesting that “one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” Upon hearing this, the other ten are furious. They have followed Jesus as a group for more than two years, giving up their jobs and leaving their wives and whatever semblance of a normal life they had. All the disciples hope they will reap the glory that will come after the new Messiah overthrows the Romans. Peter is so sure that Jesus is going to use military might that he is making plans to purchase a sword.

But Jesus has no plans to wage war and no plans to form a new government. Rather than scold James and John, he calmly deflects their request. He then calls the disciples together, instructing them to focus on serving others rather than fighting for position. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” he tells them.

Once again, Jesus is predicting his death. And yet the disciples are so focused on the glorious moment when he will reveal that he is the Christ that they can’t hear that he is telling them he will soon die. There will be no overthrow of the Romans. There will be no new government.

The disciples’ willful ignorance is understandable. Jesus often speaks in parables, and the excitement surrounding him is now phenomenal. The love and adoration being bestowed upon Jesus makes any talk of death unbelievable. The thick crowds of pilgrims treat Jesus like royalty, hanging on his every word and greeting him with enthusiastic awe. In the village of Jericho, two blind men call out

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