Step by Step: Walk With Jesus on Holy WeekSample

Jesus Is Tested by Religious Leaders

As the week moved forward, the religious leaders sent spies to follow Jesus. They questioned Him, looking for any way to trap and turn Him in to be killed. They continued to feel their voice of authority slipping among the people.

We have all watched or seen slips of political or presidential debates, and we know the level of toxicity and attempted destruction that can be involved from one candidate to another. But unlike any political candidate of modern or past times, there has never been someone able to withstand a coordinated political attack like Jesus. With every question, story, or analogy the religious leaders used to try and trap Jesus, they always were left in silence. He was mentally unbreakable and unfazed. He knew every passage they were quoting better than they did. He knew the crooked intention of their heart before they even spoke a word.

But as the spiritual weight of the week continued to build in Jesus’ heart, so did the weight of frustration in those religious leaders. They now knew that He was mentally unshakable. But if He was truly the son of God as He said He was, would He be able to stop the physical harm they knew must come next?