Time With Jesus

Wednesday, March 27 | Dr. Blake Killingsworth

A Note About the Video

Video Transcript:

We've now come to Wednesday of Holy Week. In the Gospels, very little is said about what happened on this day. In fact, it is called Silent Wednesday by many.

At this stage, Jesus has entered Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd. The Pharisees have already put into place their plot against Him, and we see Jesus taking time to look over the city of Jerusalem and weep over the knowledge of what was to come.

The following day, a group of Greeks arrived to see Jesus, and in response to their request, Jesus begins to hint a little bit more about what will take place in the coming days, as he foretells his coming death, although the disciples couldn't grasp what He was saying.

And then we have Wednesday, a day upon which we can really only speculate.

We know likely Jesus remained in Jerusalem, preparing for the Passover. He was with His disciples, and He spent time in prayer, as was His custom. I also imagine that perhaps He began to think back on what all had taken place over the course of the last 3+ years. 

He knew He would be leaving His friends soon, and His heart must have been filled with emotion. Maybe He remembered growing up in Nazareth, learning a trade from Joseph, and hearing the stories of His birth from Mary. Maybe He also remembered the harsh rejection He faced from His hometown when they rejected Him.

We are standing here off the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and perhaps Jesus' thoughts on this day raced back to the times He spent here, teaching His disciples and healing the sick. He could have remembered the time spent in His adopted town of Capernaum, where He first met Peter, James,  John, and Andrew, some of His closest friends. He even stayed in the home of Peter, and even spent time in the synagogue.

Perhaps he headed to Magdala, home of Mary, and spent time in their synagogue proclaiming the coming Kingdom.

All up and down this shore, He lived among the people, loving them and teaching them. Can you imagine what His reflections on this time could have been?

This Silent Wednesday, this moment of peace will soon change. Tomorrow, Thursday, the time clock will begin, and we will see a final dinner with His disciples, an unexpected rejection, and a shameful trial followed by a cowardly sentencing of death.

But that is tomorrow. Today is Wednesday, and although Jesus is perhaps reflective, He is certainly not anxious.

Considering this possible scene makes me think back to the Sermon on the Mount, given near this site along the hills surrounding Galilee. As the sermon is drawing to the end, He tells His listeners to be anxious for nothing, because God cares for them beyond anything they can imagine. And so He concludes this anxiety section by providing the solution to anxiety—seeking first God's kingdom, not our own.

These words very likely crossed His mind again. He knew what lay ahead, the trial, the beatings, and the death. 

But He knew that it was part of His Father's plan to save the world through Him. So as He certainly could be tempted to be anxious, He knew that resurrection was on the other side, and so He pressed on through Wednesday, on to Thursday and to Friday, knowing that Sunday was coming. 

In thinking about this story, perhaps you can look at your own life and see what are the areas in which you need to recognize and confess your anxiety over a coming trial. Maybe, as we have imagined Jesus doing on this day, you look back over your life and are filled with fondness, but, unlike Jesus, it could be that the fondness for past days have turned into anxiety for the struggles of today and a fear that God isn't going to listen to you or won't have a plan for you

Jesus could have given up as well. He could have thrown in the towel. 

On Wednesday, He had a perfect window to pull the plug on it all, but He didn't….thankfully He didn't. With focus and determination, he pressed on. 

What about you? Are you willing to press on against the onslaught you may be facing today? Even though you can think of a time of peaceful, quiet, and amazing ministry, are you willing to stand alongside Jesus and steel yourself to go down the path God chooses, a path sometimes that isn't always fun but is always the right one? 

Ask God to reveal to you where your trust in His plan and provisions is lacking. In turn, even as He reveals those areas to you, put into practice the art of seeking first God's kingdom and His righteousness.

Dr. Blake Killingsworth serves as Dean of the Cook School of Leadership at Dallas Baptist University.