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Palm Sunday reminds us: God’s Word can be trusted

The prophetic exactnessof Christ’s Final Week

John 12:12-19

As we open to John 12, we are looking at the final account of Christ’s Triumphal entrance into Jerusalem for His final week of His earthly ministry.

After the other three Gospel writers had penned their inspired accounts of this Palm Sunday event[1]in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 21: more than 30 years later, the last living Apostle, John, sits to write the final pieces that describe that final week.

Much like a movie that gets remade into 3-D form, the Gospel by John’s 10-chapter account of Christ’s Final Week: fills in, and rounds out, what is already recorded in the other three accounts, as the Spirit of God gives us even more precious details. What we have is an amazing record of the most powerful week ever to take place in the history of the Universe.

The Final Picture of The Final Week

The final week of Christ’s life is captured for us in the New Testament across 28 chapters out of a total of 89 chapters that make up the Four Gospels.

Just for perspective: out of the 89 total chapters:

  • Christ’s entire 42-month (or 168 weeks of) ministry is covered in 61 chapters.
  • Christ’s Final Week fills another 28 chapters.
  • Needless to say, we know so much more about Christ’s final week, than any other week in the Bible.

The Palm Sunday event, trigger the countdown: to greatest week of Earth’s history since Creation.

  • The creation of our Universe, spoken into existence by its Creator, was a great event.
  • But, the Universe, shackled by the bondage to sin, groaning in anticipation of being liberated, must have so rejoiced in the climactic, redemptive events of this week.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem[2] at exactly the time the Passover lambs were chosen.

He proclaimed Himself as the Promised Messiah by riding on a donkey exactly as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. Listen as I read about the promised coming of the King:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Christ’s true kingship was exactly demonstrated when He was sacrificed on the Cross: as God’s Lamb.

The Application of Palm Sunday

The application of Palm Sunday is clear. Jesus Christ repeats it over and over from start-to-finish in His public ministry:

  • If you do not bow to me as the Lamb of God for sinners slain, then you face inescapable judgment.
  • I, the Christ, am returning; and will Judge sinners who have not repented and bowed to me!

Please stand with me as we see the prophesied King, exactly enter as promised on Palm Sunday, in triumph.

John 12:12-19 (NKJV) The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna!‘ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! ’The King of Israel!”

14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

Pray

Palm Sunday was exactly set at a time of great invitation. On this day, the Jews of Christ’s time, had to choose a lamb to cover their sins; and so on this day we are also reminded that we need to have a Lamb to take care of our sins. Palm Sunday first emphasizes:

Jesus is: The Lamb of God

God planned Passover as a vivid, annual reminder, of the great Exodus event. The Lord wanted this silent declaration of His plan of salvation to become part of the schedules, the customs, and the traditions: in the lives of every one of His chosen people of promise.

God designed Passover to become a cog in the annual life of a Jew. Each year of a typical Jew’s life, the idea of an innocent lamb, chosen as a substitute, and slain in place of each person: was to be a silent picture of the coming Lamb of God.

During the original, Exodus chapter 12 event, God instructed each family in Egypt to get a lamb on Nissan 10, keep that lamb close-by for the week. Then on Passover, to kill that lamb, catch its blood, and apply the lamb’s blood to the doorway at the entrance of their home.

Each family was warned: any home where blood was not obediently applied to the entrance doorway, that home would get a visit from the Destroyer. The death of the firstborn would be the result of neglecting to exactly obey God’s Words.

We know that for Passover to be celebrated on Saturday, the people had to pick a lamb the Sunday before Passover (Palm Sunday) so they could keep that lamb with them the days as detailed in Exodus 12.

So the Palm Sunday event of Christ’s final week, was also exactly the day that Passover observing Jews in Jerusalem had to pick their Passover lamb. We know from history that in decades around Christ’s time as many as a million people would make the pilgrimage up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the great Feast of the Passover.

So Jesus came as The Lamb of God, and passed by the Sheep Gate where all the Passover Lambs were being washed and prepared by thousands of families, on that Palm Sunday. Think of what was happening:

The Promised Suffering King: Came as a Lamb

The one and only Lamb of God entered Jerusalem on the lamb picking day. Jesus rode past on a donkey (Zech. 9) more of the countless lambs, that each year of Passover, had pointed to the coming King. Jesus came to Jerusalem this final week to be cruelly abused, falsely accused, and horribly disfigured (Isaiah 53). Jesus entered Jerusalem as the One Lamb that God sent, to die as the sacrifice for the sin of the world (John 1:29).

So few even understood. So few even noticed as they washed their lambs and busily prepared for yet another annual Passover feast. Instead of the Passover feast silently reminding them to look for the Lamb of God, it became for many just another hollow religious observance.

Just as on that first Palm Sunday, some chose to cheer, worship, honor, and follow Christ, and others didn’t: so we each have a choice today.

Application: Do you know that you have personally chosen Jesus as your Lamb? You can do so right now, if you haven’t. Just bow your heart before Him, admit your guilt to God. Confess that you need an offering for your sins to be forgiven; and believe that Jesus is the Lamb that you choose!

What a day to pick Jesus, the very day He offered Himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The arrival of Jesus on the 10th of Nissan in AD 30 was one of the greatest prophetic moments in redemption history.

Jesus hit Jerusalem with prophetic accuracy just as Daniel 9 promised that He would. Jesus came on the very day and hour God had appointed, for His presentation to the Nation, and the World: as God’s Passover Lamb.

It was an exact fulfillment of a precise prophecy because:

God’s Word is Unstoppable

One thing you can be sure of—God keeps His Word.

You can count on Him, trust Him, and believe His Word. Today, as we remember Palm Sunday we are assured that God will keep His Word about the future. How do we know that for certain? Because He has kept His Word so perfectly and exactly in the past!

What events God’s Word says will happen in the future: will each come to pass as clearly as each fulfilled event has come to pass already.

Palm Sunday reminds us of just how unique, and how powerful is our God. Why? For just one reason this morning—the prophetic accuracy that God demonstrates though dozens of pinpoint accurate promises He sent in His Word centuries before the events occurred!

Christ’s Final Week was: Filled with Prophecies

Christ’s Final Week is filled with fulfilled prophecies that remind us of God’s incredible plans contained in His Word.

Take for instance, the Prophetic Exactness of Christ’s Crucifixion. There were thirty-three prophecies fulfilled on the single day when the Lord Jesus died.

There is nothing in all of human history, however, comparable to the prophecies associated with the events surrounding the substitutionary death of Christ. These were not vague and hidden, like those of fortune-tellers, nor were they given only a short time before they were fulfilled, as are those of modern occultists.

There are scores, perhaps hundreds, of such prophecies in the Old Testament that focus on the death of the coming Messiah, and many of them are very detailed and specific.

All were recorded hundreds of years, some over a thousand years, before they were fulfilled. To help strengthen our confident faith in God and His Word, look at the unstoppable promises of God that we see in:

THE PROPHETIC EXACTNESS OF CHRIST’S FINAL NIGHT

Each element of Christ’s Final Day speaks loudly of God’s unique, prophetic power to write history in advance:

  • The cruel treatment of Christ’s back, cheeks, and face;
  • Christ’s betrayal by one of His close friends was forecast,
  • The price of thirty pieces of silver for His betrayal was given;
  • Even the shameful mockery of the judicial process, which constituted His trial, is prophesied.

Exactly what God said would happen: does happen!

To best understand the amazing clarity of prophecy, please start by turning with me to Matthew 26:67.

As you begin to look at that verse and others, listen as I read from Old Testament prophets who wrote between 600 and a 1000 years earlier about these exact events, leading up to the Crucifixion.

I read: Congregation looks at:
Isaiah 50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. Matthew 26:67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, We read a few verses later in Matthew 27:26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
Zechariah 11:12-13 Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.   Note: Actually the statement in Matthew 27:9-10, paraphrases Zech. 11:12-13. But the Hebrew canon was divided into 3 sections, Law, Writings, and Prophets (cf. Luke 24:44). Jeremiah came first in the order of prophetic books, so the Prophets were sometimes collectively referred to by his name. Matthew 27:3-10 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Psalm 41:9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me. Mark 14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.
Psalm 35:11 Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know. John 18:22 And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?”

So in every way God’s Word promised Christ’s suffering that final night was fulfilled—God always keeps His Word!

God’s Word is Unstoppable

One thing you can be sure of this Palm Sunday—God keeps His Word.

You can count on Him, trust Him, and believe His Word. Just as God kept His Word on  Palm Sunday we are assured that God will keep His Word about the future.

What events God’s Word says will happen in the future: will each come to pass as clearly as each fulfilled event has come to pass already.

Jesus came to Jerusalem this final week to be cruelly abused, falsely accused, and horribly disfigured (Isaiah 53).

Jesus entered Jerusalem as the One Lamb that God sent, to die as the sacrifice for the sin of the world (John 1:29).

So few even understood on that first Palm Sunday. So few even noticed as they washed their lambs and busily prepared for yet another annual Passover feast. Instead of the Passover feast silently reminding them to look for the Lamb of God, it became for many just another hollow religious observance.

Just as on that first Palm Sunday, some chose to cheer, worship, honor, and follow Christ, and others didn’t: so we each have a choice today.

Have You Applied the Blood?

Just like the blood on the door posts was an act of faith in the first Passover, so calling on Christ to save you is an act of faith today.

Have you personally chosen Jesus as your substitute, and sin-bearing Lamb?

You can do so right now, if you haven’t.

Just bow your heart before Him, admit your guilt to God.

Confess that you need an offering for your sins to be forgiven; and believe that Jesus is the Lamb that you choose!

What a day to place your hands of faith upon Jesus, the very day He offered Himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Appendix for Further Study:

Next was the actual crucifixion of Jesus. Again we see that God wrote down hundreds of years beforehand such exact details, it reads like an on the scene reporter taking notes of the crucifixion. But instead it was a prophet, listening to God hundreds of years before, and recording it in this Book, God’s Word!

PROPHETIC EXACTNESS OF CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION:

The awful details of His sufferings on the cross are portrayed graphically in the 22nd Psalm, written by David almost 1,100 years before its fulfillment. As I point out the details, you follow along in Matthew 27.

Each of the dreadful details of Christ’s suffering is captured—the unnatural darkness, the mocking priests and others at the foot of the cross, the sufferings caused by the crucifixion process are recorded, piercing of His hands and feet, the stripping of His garments, the gambling over His possessions, His awful thirst, and despite the intensity of His sufferings, none of His bones would be broken, is foretold.

Psalm 22 is surely one of the most marvelous passages in all the Word of God, and will richly repay detailed and prayerful study by each individual Christian. First look at Matthew 27:35:

I read Congregation look up
Psalm 22:16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; Matthew 27:35a Then they crucified Him,  
Psalm 22:17-18 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. Matthew 27:35b … and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”
Psalm 22:2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.
Psalm 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Psalm 69:21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Matthew 27:48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.  
Psalm 22:7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, Mark 15:29 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,
Psalm 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said “I thirst!”  
Psalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Psalm 34:20 He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken. John 19:33, 36 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced.   John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

So in every way God’s Word promised Christ’s death by Crucifixion was fulfilled—God always keeps His Word!

Every Detail God Spoke: Exactly Came to Pass

We can easily go on through the accounts of the trials of Jesus, the details of His substitutionary death, and the burial of Jesus and see equally amazing precision. God wrote the future, God’s Word is unstoppable, and He has given His Word to us.

So, as we have seen all this, ask yourself:

  • Is your heart strengthened to trust even more our great God?
  • Do you want to follow Him who wants to direct our paths?
  • Will we trust and obey Him who wants us to do His will, not our own?

So Palm Sunday affirms the Prophetic Exactness of God’s Word. How can we relate that to life in Michigan in 2012? If God has always kept His Word—and He has, then He will continue to do so.

Here are three choices to make this historic day, as we remember Palm Sunday

  1. We should live our lives like Jesus HEARING God’s Will! Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
  • We should live our lives like Jesus SEEKING God’s Will! Look at His life again in Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
  1. We should live our lives like Jesus DOING to God’s will! Hebrews 10:7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’ ”

Palm Sunday was the day all of Israel had to pick their Passover lamb.

Just as in the 1st Palm Sunday, some chose Christ and others didn’t, so we have a choice today.

Have you chosen Jesus as your Lamb? You can, just bow your heart before Him right now and admit to God that you need an offering for your sins to be forgiven and that Jesus is the Lamb that you choose!

What a day to pick Jesus, the very day He offered Himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THE SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH OF Christ The 53rd chapter of Isaiah (actually beginning at Isaiah 52:13) is also a marvelous chapter devoted to the future death of the Savior, written by Isaiah 750 years before it came to pass. Especially emphasized in this chapter (which is quoted in at least six different places in the New Testament) is the fact that the death of the Messiah would be a substitutionary death, offered up in sacrificial substitution for the sins of others. Turn there with me please, to Isaiah 53.

Paul summarizes the Gospel as “He gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20b). This emphasis on substitutionary suffering is repeated over and over in Isaiah 53. It says, for example, that:

  • v. 4 “He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”.
  • v. 5 “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and striped for our healing”.
  • v. 6 says “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
  • v. 11 says “He shall bear their iniquities,”.
  • v. 12 that “He was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Also we can see the PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THE DETAILS OF CHRIST’S TRIALS AND DEATH: The details of His trial and death are also given in this chapter.

  • The abuse He bore at the hands of the soldiers and others is graphically portrayed in 52:14: “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”
  • The serenity He exhibited before His accusers at His trial is predicted in 53:7, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”
  • The verdict of that mock trial is given in verse 8, “He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
  • Then, death with the criminals, and His burial by a rich man, is recorded in verse 9, “And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
  • Finally, Christ’s resurrection from the grave is promised in verse 10: “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days.” 

So in every way God’s Word promised Christ’s death was fulfilled—God always keeps His Word!

The Prophetic Exactness of Christ’s Burial

The great defining passage on the Gospel is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Here, the Gospel is defined as the good news that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Thus the Gospel involves three main parts—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and further emphasizes his post-resurrection physical appearances in confirmation thereof.

So the Gospel we declare affirms that it is absolutely vital for all men to know beyond any doubt that it was the human Jesus who rose from the grave. Therefore, it must be certain that His body was carefully buried after His death, and that this burial was known to all, both friend and foe. Then, on the great morning when He arose from the dead, the emptied tomb would stand forever as the infallible proof of His bodily resurrection. Look at Matthew 27:62-66.

PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THOSE WHO BURIED CHRIST’S BODY:

Matthew 27:62-66 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Such an important ministry as the burial of the body of Jesus could not be entrusted by God to the Roman soldiers, who would merely further defile it and then throw it in with the bodies of other executed criminals, nor to the Jewish authorities who would probably do even worse. Nor would these authorities have permitted it to fall into the hands of His disciples, as they were afraid they would seek to hide it and then claim He had been resurrected (Matthew 27:62-66).

  1. GOD PREPARED THOSE WHO HAD AUTHORITY TO BURY CHRIST’S BODY: The solution was for God to have the body buried by one or more of the authorities themselves who were also disciples. For this purpose, God chose two of the members of the governing Jewish body, the Sanhedrin, Joseph and Nicodemus. Thus, they would have access to the necessary information about the time and circumstances of His death, they would also have access to the Roman governor in order to make the required arrangements to acquire the body before the soldiers could dispose of it, and they would have enough wealth of their own to be able to make the needed preparations for a suitable resting-place for the body until it could be raised from the dead.
  1. GOD PREPARED THOSE WHO WOULD BURY CHRIST’S BODY: Of course, they would have to be prepared ahead of time for this ministry. God therefore somehow touched the heart of Nicodemus, as he listened to John the Baptist, then later to Jesus, and as He saw the miracles which Jesus did. Eventually, he made his way into the presence of Jesus one night, where the Lord spoke to him of the necessity of being born again, even though he was already the greatest “teacher in Israel” (John 3:7, 10). The Scriptures do not tell us the outcome of that interview, except that sometime later Nicodemus defended Jesus on one occasion before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51). Similarly, we read that Joseph did not concur in the decision of the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus (Luke 23:50-51).
  1. PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THE PLACE PREPARED FOR THE BURIAL OF CHRIST’S BODY: Some such background as this is necessary to understand the otherwise inexplicable prescience of Joseph. Why, for example, should he, a rich man of Arimathaea, buy a burial ground in Jerusalem instead of his own home town? And, especially, why should he purchase it in such a place as this—adjacent to the hill of Golgotha, where day after day there would come the cries of dying criminals and the wails of mourning families? Furthermore, it was a brand new tomb, not one in which others of the family had been buried (John 19:41), one that Joseph himself had hewn out in the rock (Matthew 27:60), perhaps not wishing others even to know about its preparation.
  1. PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE BURIAL OF CHRIST’S BODY: Strange also was the fact that Joseph knew exactly when Jesus died, and was immediately able to rush to Pilate with the request for His body, before others even realized He was dead (Mark 15:43-44). Even stranger was the fact that immediately thereafter came Nicodemus carrying one hundred Roman pounds (or 66 pounds in our terms, the Roman pound was 12 ounces) of ointment for the burial (one does not carry even one hundred Roman pounds very far!). Then, while the women watched from a distance, no doubt in amazement, these two respected members of the Sanhedrin gently lowered the body from the cross, wound it in the linen clothes, applied the spices and ointments, laid the body in the tomb, and then departed. Never, so far as the Biblical record goes, were they ever heard from again, but there can be no doubt that this one act cost them their positions and probably their possessions, and possibly even their lives.

So in every way God’s Word promised Christ’s burial was fulfilled—God always keeps His Word!

The Countdown to the Cross Matthew Mark Luke John
Jesus heals a blind beggar 20:29-34 10:46-52 18:35-43  
Jesus brings salvation to Zacchaeus’ home     19:1-10  
Jesus tells the parable of the king’s ten servants     19:11-27  
A woman anoints Jesus with perfume 26:6-13 14:3-9   12:1-11
Sunday: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey 21:1-11 11:1-11 19:28-44 12:12-19
Monday: Jesus clears the temple again 21:12-17 11:12-19 19:45-48  
Jesus explains why he must die       12:20-36
Most of the people do not believe in Jesus       12:37-43
Jesus summarizes his message       12:44-50
Tuesday: Jesus says the disciples can pray for anything 21:18-22 11:20-26    
Religious leaders challenge Jesus’ authority 21:23-27 11:27-33 20:1-8  
Jesus tells the parable of the two sons 21:28-32      
Jesus tells the parable of the wicked farmers 21:33-46 12:1-12 20:9-19  
Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast 22:1-14      
Religious leaders question Jesus about paying taxes 22:15-22 12:13-17 20:20-26  
Religious leaders question Jesus about the resurrection 22:23-33 12:18-27 20:27-40  
Religious leaders question Jesus about the greatest commandment 22:34-40 12:28-34    
Religious leaders cannot answer Jesus’ question 22:41-46 12:35-37 20:41-44  
Jesus warns against the religious leaders 23:1-12 12:38-40 20:45-47  
Jesus condemns the religious leaders 23:13-36      
Jesus grieves over Jerusalem again 23:37-39      
A poor widow gives all she has   12:41-44 21:1-4  
Jesus tells  about the future 24:1-25 13:1-23 21:5-24  
Jesus  tells about his return 24:26-35 13:24-31 21:25-33  
Jesus tells  about remaining watchful 24:36-51 13:32-37 21:34-38  
Jesus  tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids 25:1-13      
Jesus tells  the parable of the loaned money 25:4-30      
Jesus tells  about the final judgment 25:31-46      
Religious leaders plot to kill Jesus 26:1-5 14:1, 2 22:1, 2  
Judas agrees to betray Jesus 26:14-16 14:10, 11 22:3-6  
Disciples prepare for the Passover 26:17-19 14:12-16 22:7-13  
Jesus washes the disciples’ feet       13:1-20
Jesus and the disciples have the Last Supper 26:20-30 14:17-26 22:14-30 13:21-30
Jesus predicts Peter’s denial     22:31-38 13:31-38
Jesus is the way to the Father       14:1-14
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit       14:15-31
Jesus teaches about the vine and the branches       15:1-17
Jesus warns about the world’s hatred       15:18-16:4
Jesus teaches about the Holy Spirit       16:5-15
Jesus teaches about using his name in prayer       16:16-33
Jesus  prays for himself       17:1-5
Jesus  prays for his disciples       17:6-19
Jesus  prays for future believers       17:20-26
Jesus again predicts Peter’s denial 26:31-35 14:27-31    
Jesus agonizes in the garden 26:36-46 14:32-42 22:39-46  

[1] Some scholars believe these events took place on Monday instead of Sunday. In 1988 John MacArthur published The MacArthurNew Testament Commentary Matthew 16-23. On Page 257 of this Commentary, John MacArthur accurately dates this event on a Monday. In later sermons John MacArthur would refer to this event as “Palm Monday.”

[2] 050320AM Prophetic Exactness of Palm Sunday