The last eight days Jesus was on the earth were the most pivotal in human history.
The First Four Days
Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on the first day of these eight days. This was a day of celebration, and the people waved palm branches and praised Him. This was monumental because a great prophecy of the coming messiah was fulfilled. At the time, palm branches were a symbol of victory.
On the second day, Jesus went to the temple, where He overturned the money tables and began to preach, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” By doing this, Jesus was making clear that there should be no other gods before Him. Money cannot be your god. Material things cannot be your god.
The most memorable moment of the third day was when Mary Magdalene came with an expensive basin of anointing oil — so expensive it cost one year’s wages. Mary Magdalene had once been controlled by seven demons; all she had known was torment and the power of Satan. Maybe like her, all you can remember is being a slave to sin or under crippling oppression. But when Mary met Jesus, He broke the power of Satan off her life, and she was never the same again. So on this day, she broke open the alabaster jar, she fell at His feet, and began to worship Him. Jesus chastised His followers for criticizing her and declared that this woman who wasn’t ashamed to worship Him would be talked about wherever the Gospel is preached until the end of time.
The fourth day that changed the world was a bit more unusual: That day is known as Silent Wednesday because it’s the only one of those pivotal eight days when historians tell us we don’t know what Jesus did. It appears He did nothing. There were people with needs all over Jerusalem, yet Jesus was quiet.
Sooner or later in life, you will encounter not just the Jesus of miracles but your own Silent Wednesday. You may feel desperate to hear from God, but your situation stays the same. In those moments, God wants you to trust Him even if you don’t see things transforming or feel His presence. Oftentimes, the teacher is silent during the test. But fear not, because His Word will sustain you through the silent Wednesdays. God’s word will ground you in the truth that He is good all the time, and He will never leave you.
The Last Four Days
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the fifth day that changed the world.
He held up a piece of bread and said, “This bread represents my body.” Then He held up a cup of wine and said, “This wine represents my blood.” And He told His disciples, “When you take this, My body and My blood, you do this in remembrance of Me.”
Communion is significant because God left us with a physical, tangible way to remember His very flesh here on Earth with us and his blood, which was shed for our redemption. When we take communion, we remember Christ. When we honor Him this way, we are essentially putting Him back together inside us — a uniquely beautiful and sacred reminder of Him.
On the sixth day that changed the world, Jesus did what no one else on Earth could do: He gave His life for you and me.
Why did Jesus die such a brutal death on the cross? Put simply: Because He loves you. His suffering allowed you to be made whole and reunited with the God who made you. His suffering brought you life and freedom. No longer is humanity without hope. No longer do we have to bring sacrifices for our sins. The ultimate sacrifice was made at the Cross. “It is finished,” he declared.
On the seventh day, the disciples laid the natural body of Jesus in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. It was certainly a day of hopelessness and confusion for all His followers. But it is still significant for those of us who follow Christ. It is a reminder that when we feel defeated, we can cling to hope, knowing the ultimate battle is already won. The tomb was borrowed and only temporary.
Then came Day Eight — the most glorious, historic day of all!
Early in the morning, as the sun began to rise, the Bible tells us that a few women went to Jesus’s tomb with spices to anoint His body. Nicodemus, the former Pharisee who was by then a disciple, came with myrrh (an embalming fluid) when he heard that Jesus had died. He was essentially saying, “He’s dead and buried, so let’s embalm Him.” But Scripture reveals that when the women got to the tomb, they found an angel sitting on top of the stone that had covered the entrance but which had been rolled away.
Jesus wasn’t there.
If you think back to Genesis 1, it all started for humanity in a garden — the Garden of Eden — and it looked like it all might end there, too. Sin took hold and death was on its way. But what splendid hope would be restored in the Garden of Gethsemane!
In the Garden of Eden, Adam took a fall; but in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took a stand. In the Garden of Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that produced sin; but when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was led to a tree called Calvary that produced eternal life.
Today, because of the empty tomb, our hope is secure and our destiny is sealed. The Bible declares, “Oh grave, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?”
The first of those eight days began with a celebration, and the last one ended with a much bigger one. The greatest eight days in history were filled with more than fun facts and historic milestones: They began and ended with living hope, because Jesus reigns victorious.