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I've checked the transcript carefully and will revise the article to include all the segments that actually appeared in the show and to correct the spelling of Emilee's name.

5 Things to Remember During Passion Week

It's Passion Week, which goes from Sunday to Sunday, and a lot of stuff happened. We're going to talk about five specific things that went on that week—not long, deep theological discussions, just five things to keep in the back of your mind for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday: A Divine Mic Drop

Palm Sunday riding on the donkey—that's when it all began. A lot of people don't understand that when Jesus rode in as king, it was kind of like a celebration, but I don't think we stop and really get the depth of how deep of a statement He was making.

When you go to Zechariah 9:9, look that up and I'm telling you, you will be blessed. You will see that Jesus, by getting this donkey colt, sitting on it and riding in—with the Spirit of God taking over the people to put the palm branches and the coats and jackets and stuff on where He's riding in as king—He is dropping the gauntlet. He's doing a mic drop: "I am the King. I am the Messiah. I am your Messiah coming to you to lay down my life."

When you're talking to the first-century Jewish culture and you repeat the words of Zechariah 9:9, they knew that like the way we know John 3:16. This was Jesus saying "I am your Messiah," and that's why later on during the week when they asked, "If you are the Messiah, just tell us plainly," He responded, "I did tell you plainly when I rode in on the donkey."

The Week of Teaching and Confrontation

During Monday through Wednesday, Jesus and His disciples would go to the temple and then cross the Kidron Valley back to the Mount of Olives. If you take the synoptic gospels and piece it together, some very interesting things happened. Jesus threw down every day at the temple, showing that He was God and that they were in their sins.

Luke 19:45-48 tells us: "He went into the temple and began to throw out those who were selling and He said, 'It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.' And every day He was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to kill Him, but they could not find a way to do it because all the people were captivated by what they heard."

In Matthew 23, Jesus goes for broke. He basically calls them "brood of vipers." He calls them "whitewashed tombs," calls them fakers and posers to their face in their temple. That kind of goes hand-in-hand with what I think we have in our Passion Week: we need to proclaim Jesus's life, death, and resurrection and victory over death, hell, and the grave in such a way that we don't allow fakers to get in and make us think "Oh, we better be nice to them." No, we don't need to be mean, but they need to hold no sway over us.

Jesus left no doubt in anyone's mind what He thought about what was going on in Jerusalem during Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He was causing a ruckus. Then they go across the Kidron Valley, and in Matthew 24, the disciples are saying, "Okay, Lord, when's your kingdom coming? We'd like to know, we're getting a little clenchy." He's talking about the destruction of the temple and when the kingdom would come.

The Garden of Gethsemane: Where Victory Was Won

When was the victory won? When was the victory over hell, victory over sin, the victory of Jesus coming to fulfill His mission—when was it actually won? Some people say it's the cross or the resurrection, but I'm going to say the Garden of Gethsemane.

That's when it was actually won—technically—because here's the thing: He laid His life down voluntarily. When you go to the garden and look at the cup when He says, "If this cup can pass from me, let it be," you know, so many times—look at the beginning of time—Adam and Eve said, "Not Your will, Lord, I want my will." But Jesus in the garden said, "Not my will, Lord, but Your will." This is where it was won.

In Matthew 26:39-45: "Going a little further, He fell on His face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.' And He came to His disciples and found them sleeping and He said, 'Peter, so could you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" What's He saying here? He's teaching Peter from His own experience: "My flesh is weak, but I want the Lord's spirit."

It talks about Him sweating blood in the garden in other gospels. This is where the victory was won because this is when He decided, "I'm going to make sure I lay down my life. No going back now." He could have bailed. Even in His sinless state, He could have bailed.

In verse 42: "He went away and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done.'" Boom! Victory right there.

He even went so far as to put a stake in the ground—another mic drop—in John 19 when they come to arrest Him. Jesus says, "I AM," like "I AM God," and they all fall back. This is a group of a hundred guys with torches and lanterns. They're fired up, ready for a mob, ready for a riot, and Jesus blows them back off their feet just with those words. He laid His life down. The victory was won right there.

In that cup was the sin of every human being—the awful, awful sins of the entire world coming down upon Him. So He goes to the cross and then pays the penalty, but He won the victory in the garden.

The Cross: Separation and Fulfillment

What happened at the cross is a pretty powerful moment. There's a lot from the Old Testament that's fulfilled in just that three-hour time period and the things that happened afterwards.

What should people really take from that particular moment in history? The fact that He was separated from God. This was the most horrible moment of His whole sinless life. He became sin. God can't look on sin. He turned His back on His own Son—on the One that came to redeem the world.

When He says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He wasn't asking a question—He knew why He had come. He knew that His glory awaited, but the difficulty of it was overwhelming. Even in human terms, psychologists and psychiatrists can spell out for you the incredible devastation when a human father turns their back on their son. It's devastating. It's horrible. It has consequences. It's unnatural.

We kind of skip over that aspect. We look at His scourging, we look at the hanging and the suffering, but the thought of being rejected by His Father, with whom He has always had communion—that's probably even more significant than the physical suffering.

Then you've got the prophecies being fulfilled. All the different prophecies fulfilled at Calvary were just astounding. One of the big ones is knowing military procedures and how good the Romans were at crucifixion—they were experts at it. The fact that not one of His bones would be broken is significant, because it's common to break the legs of crucifixion victims after a couple hours (because they can't push up and suffocation happens quicker).

But when they put the spear in His side, blood and water hit the ground. I love Phil Wickham's song called "True Love"—"When blood and water hit the ground, walls we couldn't move came crashing down." We now have access to God the Father through the sacrifice of the Son. All the sacrifices of animals leading up to this—all the millions of animals over thousands of years—were all pointing to this moment: to have faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

They didn't break His legs, so He was dead. There's no question, there's no "swoon theory" or anything like that. And then you have the earthquake, you have the temple veil torn from top to bottom. When I think of the cross, I think of the punishment of God going onto Jesus that we all deserve, and He becomes a substitute for anybody that puts faith in Him because of the work on the cross. What's the work? The work is paying the sin debt that is required in front of a holy God.

The Resurrection: Proof of His Divinity

The biggest one we celebrate on Sunday, of course, is the resurrection. The proof of the resurrection is just astounding. In Matthew 28:1-15, at the end in verse 15, it talks about how "we're going to pay off the guards and you're going to say the disciples came and stole his body." On the surface, that's not possible. The disciples were cowards. How could they possibly come and overwhelm a Roman squad, roll the stone away, steal the body, and not leave tons of evidence they could point to? They were never able to point to any evidence.

Then you've got the fact that there's just one testimony after another testimony after another testimony. Over 500 people saw Jesus alive. The empty tomb itself and then the transformation of the disciples—do you know that all 12 disciples suffered horrible, horrible martyr-type deaths, and not a single one recanted? Over 500 people saw Jesus and the whole movement exploded. Everyone says Peter preached in Acts 2 and that started the church officially, but out of those 3,000, how many of them had heard from other people that were eyewitnesses to Jesus all along the way?

This is really interesting too: as I read through the scriptures, they talk about the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ as well as other miracles. You don't have people denying that it happened—not until centuries later when people were like, "No, no, we'll put a theory forward that's better." They didn't deny it. Even the people that opposed Jesus didn't deny His miracles or deny His resurrection—they just had to think of a plot to cover it up. Even His most staunch opponents didn't deny that He did the things that He did.

The resurrection is everything because it shows Jesus as God. He was different from Adam in that God stepped into humanity versus created a being. If He would have died and never rose from the dead, everything that He said, everything that He taught, everything even that He did wouldn't have really mattered. He would have been just another guy that died, like Buddha or Muhammad or Gandhi. But Jesus didn't stay dead—that's why I put so much emphasis on the resurrection.

Right On or Way Off?

For those who may be listening to us for the first time, "Right On or Way Off" is where we throw three statements out there, and Chris and Mike are going to tell me whether they think those statements are right on or way off. And then I'm going to tell them whether they are right on or way off. I'm the final judge, jury, and executioner.

Statement #3: "This is the week Jesus kissed Judas and washed his feet. Think about that as you struggle to forgive others."

Is this statement right on or way off? It's way off, and here's why:

First, Jesus didn't kiss Judas—Judas kissed Jesus. That's the account. This is how subtle Satan will twist what God has said. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss in the garden. Kisses in Bible times were very significant things. It was a sign of respect, a sign of being family, or very deep love and affection.

It's a really bad example because Judas didn't get forgiveness. He went out, he hung himself, he threw the 30 pieces of silver—it was awful. The forgiveness that Jesus went to the cross for—Judas didn't want it, he didn't receive it.

When Jesus did wash his feet, that was simply a sign that says, "What I'm about to do as a servant is offered to all of you." For Him to pour out His life and lay His life down—that truly is a servant in our place.

In John 13:27, after Judas had the morsel, Satan entered him. Jesus would have known this full well because as soon as that happened, Jesus turned to him and said, "Go do what you have to do." The die had been cast. The decision had been made. There was no turning back.

This statement is just another way for people to try to soften Christianity, make Jesus this weak-wristed version—the whole "He Gets Us" debacle. It's such an affront to authentic Christianity. It's not about Jesus washing Judas's feet—it's about Him making a testimony to all of the disciples. Even though He knew Judas was going to betray Him, He still loved him, even though He knew Satan was going to enter him. It wasn't about Judas. It was about all of the disciples and the example that has lasted for 2,000 years.

I just think that this is just another way to get us to soften and act like whoever does anything, we just have to love them unconditionally and forgive them unconditionally. I can forgive somebody and still ask a judge to put them in jail if they do a heinous crime. I can still have forgiveness and seek justice. But this really smacks of that weak-wristed, wussified Christ, who Jesus was not.

When you struggle to forgive others, don't focus on washing feet. The magic elixir that's going to make a big difference in your life is in Matthew 18. A servant goes to the king, owes him $5 million, and the king forgives the debt. Then the servant finds a fellow servant that owes him a hundred bucks, chokes him, and has him thrown into prison for it.

That's what you need to focus on when you struggle to forgive somebody—because of the mountain of sin that has been given over to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He has wiped clean, that He has washed you inside out, upside down. He doesn't "get you"—He saves you. And in that world, you realize that it's undeserved, and He's our substitute, and it's all been a free gift. Every time somebody has done something horrible to us, the forgiveness that I've been able to find in my heart goes right back to just comparing all of what I have been forgiven of.

Final Thoughts

Mike Shaw:

It's the month that Easter is in, and what is this week about? It's about Jesus giving His life. He was the only one qualified to pay the price for my sin, and that means everything for everyone for all time. If you can just accept it—and I'm sure most of the people watching right now have—if you have not, it's the best deal in the universe. You don't want to miss out on eternity in God's presence.

The other part of it is, some people that grew up in a church tradition but may not be saved—authentically saved—this is a chance for them to come back to church. Christmas and Easter only—CEOs in the Kingdom. It's a chance for people that are pouring back into church for God's Word to really do a work on their heart. We just pray that a lot of people stay and come into the Kingdom for reals this weekend.

Chris:

My final thoughts today are going to be based on something I've got coming up in my message. I started thinking about Formula 1 racing. At the end of a Formula 1 race, there's a podium, and that's kind of my happy spot where I go. I have a homemade racing simulator with a Logitech wheel and a racing chair and a PS5.

The podium finish: you've got the winner here, second place here, and third place here. I did a podium finish kind of through our theology, and I think in third place, you've got Adam and the original sin. That's so foundational for understanding God's creation and the need for a Savior.

In second place, we have the virgin birth. The virgin birth created a human that's fully God, fully human, with God the Father being the father—not born into Adam's sin.

And in first place, the resurrection. The resurrection is everything because it shows Jesus as God. He was different from Adam in that God stepped into humanity versus created a being. Christmas is in second place, Resurrection Sunday is in first place.

I want everyone's focus this Passion Week through Easter Sunday into next week to be about the substitute that Jesus created for you and that at the resurrection, He demonstrated that He was, in fact, God, and that He is the God who's going to welcome us into heaven in His glorified body. Read it in Revelation chapter 1. That's the Christ we serve—not the weak-wristed one who goes around not wanting to call anybody out for their sin.

Emilee:

As we start hearing these words like faith, love, forgiveness, and rebuking, remember that as a Christian, you have been given the gift of discernment. You can use that or you cannot use it—that's your choice. It needs refining from that moment of being born again each and every day. Your discernment needs to grow.

Chris and I did a Bible study just this week. It was just a short little devotional about the disciples in the boat and Jesus rebuking the winds. The end of the devotion said if you aren't living faithfully, you're going to have rebuke coming your way. I was like, "Wait a minute," and I went back to the story, and I read the story, and Jesus never rebuked Peter, He never rebuked the disciples—He rebuked the wind.

Get into God's Word. Know what it says. Read it for yourself, because people can twist things—put a word in a little different place, and it sounds right, but it's not. So use that discernment as a believer. If you are not a believer, this is Easter week. Take it seriously, look into it, and know that salvation is from Christ.

Passion Week is upon us, and so you've got 20 different things you can look at through the synoptic gospels for Passion Week. We didn't touch on a bunch of them, but the five that we did touch on were:

1. Palm Sunday (Zechariah 9:9)—He's saying, "I am the Messiah"
2. The week of teaching and provoking—what happened Monday through Wednesday
3. He won the victory, He drank the cup in the garden—and what was in that cup, think about it
4. He paid for the penalty of sin on the cross
5. He has victory over death, hell, and the grave forever and ever, showing Himself to be true God through the resurrection