Robert J. Nash

  MEDITATION What was it like to be there that week? It was a holiday. The city swelled from 30,000 to nearly 150,000. It was a pilgrimage and exciting. The faithful traveled to Jerusalem to eat unleavened bread for seven days, sacrifice a lamb, and enjoy the Passover meal. However, out of their religious habit came opportunists . The pilgrims had to change their money to local currency at exorbitant rates.  Racketeers were milking the desperate, shifting the focus from worship to their financial pockets, adding another barrier to people connecting with their Creator.  In that context, the twelve disciples entered Jerusalem. The city's visitors blessed Jesus and gave him a royal welcome. The religious leaders were jealous and furious. They didn’t appreciate this display of pomp and circumstance.  They feared Rome would take this as a threat and remove them from power. A conflict boiled over. The leaders sought to assassinate Jesus’s character. They attempted to trap...