Daily DevotionalS

As we prepare for the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this week, we invite you to join us Monday-Thursday morning at 8:00am for a time of Worship, Teaching, and Prayer.

Follow along with us by selecting the weekday below:

The Fig Tree and the Cleansing of the Temple

Scripture Readings
1. Jesus cleanses the Temple (Luke 19:45-48)
2. The cursing of the fig tree (Mark 11:12-14, 20-25)

Devotional 
"The LORD has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends
of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."(Isaiah 52:10)

On the first day after His triumphal entry, Jesus does two things that reveal the
nature of His coming victory. He curses a fig tree that bears leaves but no fruit, and He
drives the merchants from the Temple courts.

Mark tells us Jesus approached a fig tree, expecting to find fruit, and found none.
"May no one ever eat fruit from you again," He said (Mark 11:14). By the next morning,
the tree had withered to its roots. This wasn't frustration. It was a prophetic sign. The fig
tree represented Israel's religious establishment, lush with the appearance of devotion
but completely barren of the righteousness God was looking for.

Between the cursing and the withering, Luke records Jesus entering the Temple
and driving out the merchants: "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer' but
you have made it a den of robbers" (Luke 19:46). The court of the Gentiles, the one
space where the nations could draw near to God, had been converted into a
marketplace. Jesus didn't just disrupt this system. He dismantled it. He was clearing
space for true worship to happen again.

Isaiah's prophecy tells us the LORD would bare His holy arm before all nations
so the ends of the earth could see His salvation. We see the first stroke of that work in
the Temple cleansing. Jesus fights for access to God, not for a privileged few but for
everyone. His victory begins not on the battlefield but in the sanctuary. Not with a sword
but with an overturned table.

Luke adds a detail the other Gospel writers don't emphasize: "And He was
teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of
the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for
all the people were hanging on His words" (Luke 19:47-48). The religious leaders
wanted Him silenced. The people couldn't stop listening. Even here, days before the
cross, Jesus' authority was irresistible.

The barren fig tree and the corrupted Temple carry the same warning. God isn't
impressed by religious appearance. He looks for fruit. He looks for genuine worship.
And in Christ, He acts decisively to uproot everything that stands in the way of a living
relationship with His people. The King who overturned tables in the Temple is the same
King who wants to restore our hearts as houses of prayer. The question for us this week
is whether we'll let Him do that work.

Reflection Questions
1. Where in your life do you see the appearance of spiritual health without the
corresponding fruit?
2. What does it look like for Jesus to "cleanse the temple" of your heart this week?
3. How does Jesus' fight for access to God for all people shape the way we think
about worship and community?

The Authority That Cannot Be Silenced

Scripture Readings: 

1. Jesus' authority is challenged (Luke 20:1-8)
2. The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20:9-19)
3. Paying taxes to Caesar (Luke 20:20-26)
   
   

Daily Devotional: 
"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed... He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." (Psalm 2:1-2, 4)

Tuesday of Passion Week is a day of confrontation. The religious leaders come at Jesus with everything they have, and He answers every challenge with a wisdom that leaves them speechless. We're not watching Jesus be on the defensive. We're watching a King demonstrate that no human authority can overpower the truth of God.

It starts with a direct challenge: "Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority" (Luke 20:2). The chief priests and scribes aren't asking because they want to learn but they're trying to trap Him. If Jesus claims God's authority, they'll charge Him with blasphemy. If He defers, they'll dismiss Him. Jesus responds by asking them about the baptism of John, whether it was from heaven or from man. They can't answer without condemning themselves. His counter-question isn't evasion but instead it's exposure. Their refusal to answer reveals they aren't honest seekers of truth. They're protectors of their own power.

Psalm 2 captures the irony that the rulers conspire against the LORD and His Anointed, convinced they hold the advantage. But the One who sits in the heavens sees through every scheme. On this Tuesday in Jerusalem, the conspiracy of the powerful is already unraveling under the weight of a Jesus’ questions.

Jesus then tells the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20:9-19). A vineyard owner sends servants to collect the fruit of his vineyard, and the tenants beat and reject every one. Finally he sends his beloved son, and the tenants kill him, thinking they can seize the inheritance. The answer Jesus draws out is devastating: the owner will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. The religious leaders understood immediately that He was talking about them. Luke tells us they "sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour" (v. 19). The parable stripped away their pretense. They weren't faithful stewards of God's vineyard. They were usurpers who would kill the Son to keep their grip on religious power.

But even the Son's death doesn't end the story. Jesus quotes Psalm 118: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (v. 17). This is the paradox at the heart of the cross. The One who is rejected becomes the foundation. The One who is killed becomes the source of life. Defeat, in God's economy, becomes victory.

The leaders try once more with the question about paying taxes to Caesar (Luke 20:20-26). Jesus' response does more than sidestep a political trap: "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (v. 25). Caesar's image is on a coin. But whose image is on you? We bear the image of God, and we owe Him everything. No earthly authority can override that claim.

By the end of Tuesday, every attempt to silence Jesus has failed. His authority isn't borrowed from any human institution. It flows from His identity as the beloved Son, the rejected cornerstone, the King whom no conspiracy can dethrone.

Reflection Questions

1. When you face opposition or challenge for your faith, how does Jesus' composure under pressure encourage you?
2. What does it mean for our daily lives that we bear the image of God and owe Him everything?
3. How does the image of the "rejected cornerstone" reshape the way we think about seasons of rejection or difficulty?

Betrayal and Devotion

Scripture Readings: 

1. Judas agrees to betray Jesus (Luke 22:1-6)
2. The anointing at Bethany (John 12:1-8)

Daily Devotional
"Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. But you, O LORD, be gracious to me." (Psalm 41:9-10a)

Wednesday of Passion Week is traditionally called "Spy Wednesday" because it's the day Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to betray Jesus. Luke records the arrangement with brevity: "Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money" (Luke 22:3-5).

There's a terrible transaction in these verses. The religious leaders wanted Jesus dead but lacked opportunity. Judas wanted money and was willing to provide it. Satan wanted to destroy the Son of God and found a willing instrument. Everything aligns toward the cross. And yet, as the rest of the week will reveal, even this conspiracy serves God's redemptive plan.

The psalmist's lament echoes through the centuries: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me." Jesus would later apply these words to Judas at the Last Supper. The betrayal didn't catch Him off guard. He walked into it with full knowledge, not as a victim of circumstances but as a King who chose the path of suffering for the sake of His people.

John's Gospel gives us the counterpoint to Judas' treachery. At a dinner in Bethany, Mary takes a pound of expensive ointment (pure nard worth roughly a year's wages) and anoints Jesus' feet, wiping them with her hair (John 12:3). The house fills with the fragrance. Judas objects, complaining about the waste, though John tells us his real concern wasn't the poor but himself, since he was stealing from the money bag (v. 6).

Jesus defends Mary: "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial" (v. 7). Mary may not have fully understood what she was doing, but Jesus saw prophetic significance in her act. She was preparing His body for burial before anyone else grasped that He was about to die. Her lavish devotion stood in direct contrast to Judas' calculated betrayal.

Two people, both close to Jesus, both present at His table. One pours out everything in worship. The other sells Him for thirty pieces of silver. Wednesday confronts us with a sobering reality: proximity to Jesus doesn't automatically produce faithfulness. Judas heard every sermon, witnessed every miracle, and shared every meal with the Son of God, and still chose the path of betrayal. Mary, by contrast, offered what she had without reservation, and her gift has been remembered for two thousand years.

The victory of the cross runs through both of these stories. Judas' betrayal, intended for evil, becomes the means by which Jesus is delivered to the cross where He conquers sin and death. Mary's anointing, an act of love and worship, becomes a preparation for the burial that precedes resurrection. Nothing in this week is wasted. Every act, whether faithful or treacherous, gets drawn into the gravitational pull of God's saving purpose.

Reflection Questions

1. What does Mary's extravagant anointing teach us about the kind of worship God values?
2. In what ways are we tempted to hold back from full devotion to Christ, calculating the cost rather than giving freely?
3. How does it change our perspective on suffering and betrayal to know that God uses even the worst human actions to accomplish His saving purposes?

The King Who Serves, the Victor Who Surrenders

Scripture Readings: 

1. Jesus washes the disciples' feet (John 13:1-17)
2. The Last Supper and institution of Communion (Luke 22:14-23)
3. Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46)
4. Jesus is arrested (Luke 22:47-53)

Daily Devotional
"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Thursday of Passion Week gathers the threads of the entire week into a single evening. In the span of a few hours, Jesus washes feet, shares a final meal, institutes a covenant, agonizes in prayer, and submits to arrest. Each act reveals a different facet of the same truth: the cross isn't defeat. It's the means by which the King wins everything.

The evening begins with a gesture that stunned the disciples. John tells us that Jesus, "knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper... and began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:3-5). It's precisely because Jesus knows His authority is absolute that He takes the form of a servant. His power doesn't lead to domination. It leads to a basin and a towel. He washes Peter's feet (Peter, who will deny Him). He washes Judas' feet (Judas, who will betray Him). It's the most radical display of strength the world has ever seen.

At the Passover table, Jesus takes bread and wine and fills them with new meaning. "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." And likewise the cup: "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood" (Luke 22:19-20). The old covenant, sealed with the blood of lambs, gives way to the new covenant, sealed with the blood of the Lamb of God. Every time we take communion, we proclaim that His death wasn't a tragedy to mourn but a victory to celebrate.

Isaiah 53 gives us the theological backbone of what's about to unfold. The Suffering Servant bears griefs, carries sorrows, is pierced for transgressions, and crushed for iniquities. But the prophet frames this suffering not as meaningless pain but as purposeful substitution: "Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed." The cross is the place where God's justice and God's mercy meet. The penalty for sin is paid in full, and the door to reconciliation is thrown open.

After the meal, Jesus leads His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke records a detail found nowhere else: "And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). The full weight of what lay ahead pressed down on Jesus with crushing force. He prayed, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done" (v. 42). This isn't reluctant obedience. It's the deepest kind of trust, a Son who would rather endure the unthinkable than deviate from His Father's redemptive plan.

Luke also records what the other Gospels omit: "And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him" (v. 43). Even in His darkest hour, the Father didn't abandon His Son. The strengthening came not as rescue from suffering but as sustenance through it. The victory of the cross passes through Gethsemane, not around it.

When Judas arrives with the crowd, Jesus doesn't flee. He doesn't fight. He asks one piercing question: "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" (v. 48). When Peter draws a sword and strikes, Jesus heals the wounded servant and rebukes the violence. "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness" (v. 53). He names what's happening with total clarity. Darkness is having its moment. But a moment is all it will get.

Everything about this night points forward. The basin and towel point to a King whose reign is defined by service. The bread and cup point to a sacrifice that establishes an everlasting covenant. The garden prayer points to a Son whose trust in the Father can't be shaken. The arrest points to a Savior who surrenders willingly because He knows that losing His life is the only way to save ours. He wasn't carried to the cross. He walked there. And He walked there for us.

Reflection Questions

1. How does Jesus' example of washing feet challenge our understanding of what it means to lead and to love?
2. When we take communion, how might we more fully receive it as a proclamation of Christ's victory rather than only a remembrance of His suffering?
3. Where in your life right now do you need to pray, "Not my will, but Yours be done," and what would it look like to trust God's plan even when it leads through difficulty?