EIGHTH STUDY
The Week of the Passion
From the Triumphal Entry Until the Agony in the Garden
I. General View of the Period.
1. Our studies have now reached the close of the Saviour's ministry and have brought us to his last visit to Jerusalem. This period presents the last appeal of Jesus to the Jewish people and his final conversations with his disciples before his death.
2. Strictly speaking, "the week of the passion" or suffering of Jesus should include all the events from his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Sunday until his burial on Friday evening. But the events of the day of his crucifixion were so many and so important as to make that day a period by itself, and we therefore consider at present only five days, from the Sunday morning to the Thursday night of the Jewish Passover, the night before the Saviour's crucifixion.
3. All its events took place in or near Jerusalem. On each morning Jesus went from Bethany, where he remained at night with his friends, the household of Mary and Martha; and on each evening except the last he returned to Bethany. The days were mostly spent in Jerusalem.
II. In the study of this period we note the following Places:
1. Bethany, a small village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. It was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11. 1). Its distance from Jerusalem (John 11. 18). The lodging place of Jesus at this time (Matt. 21. 17).