Maundy Thursday!

For Thursday, April 2, 2026, Maundy Thursday:

Matthew 26:21 NLT: “While they were eating (the Last Supper), Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

This was an unpleasant day in the Christian diary. Jesus knew this was their last meal together. He knew the end was imminent. But the 12 remained optimistic despite opposition from Jewish leaders and the Roman government. God, in his wisdom, made this day of suffering go quickly.

Before the meal, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, a task usually executed by servants. Jesus emphasized that he had come to serve, not to be served. Simon Peter protested, but eventually relented. Following the meal, Jesus instituted what we call Holy Communion, telling those present to “Do this in remembrance of me.” They then adjourned to the Mount of Olives.

Judas Iscariot later betrayed Jesus, pointing him out so he could be arrested by representatives of the leading priests and elders. He was brought before the high priest, Caiaphas, and those involved in the conspiracy sought witnesses who would lie about Jesus to get him killed. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. This all happened overnight. The rooster crowed the next morning.

Found guilty in a kangaroo court, it was up to Mount Calvary. Jesus had been beaten and spat upon, then nailed to a cross stuck high in the air. The 12 had abandoned him, fearing for their own lives, I suspect.

The story ends tomorrow, on Good Friday. Or does it?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Vast Eternal Plan!

April 14, 2025, Monday Message:

John 12:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.”

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, can see into the future. He knows the fickle crowd who shouted, “Hosanna,” will soon be chanting, “Crucify him!” His assignment is to take the sins of the world to the place of the dead. Three days later comes the resurrection, and eventually Jesus returning to the Father. If that’s God’s plan, he’s “in” for the whole distance.

Once again, Jesus uses an agricultural analogy, hoping to make it easier for the layperson to understand. You simply bury some little seeds, and they give you a big field of wheat. Like those little seeds, Jesus will die, and today we have 2.3B Christians worldwide.

Those who love the world will belong to the world in which Satan is currently running rampant. Those with their eyes on eternity will move into the next reality with Jesus, living in the presence of the Father. God WILL separate the sheep from the goats!

This whole scenario fulfills God’s vast eternal plan for the rescue of mankind, from the Triumphal Entry to Jesus’ demise to the resurrection and the New Covenant. Jesus has much to teach in the time remaining. We call it “Holy Week!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Holy Week - We Know the Future!

April 18, 2011 Monday Message:

This is Holy Week. Many of you will visit church more than once this week. Holy week actually started yesterday, with Palm Sunday. Let’s look at what happened during this week 2000 years ago.

It’s Pesach, the Passover week, so Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. As they finished Thursday’s Passover meal, Jesus took common items from the dinner table, bread and wine, and instituted The Lord’s Supper, known also as Holy Communion or the Eucharist. Jesus said to do this so as not to forget him, “in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

On the surface, Good Friday seems anything but good. This is the day Jesus was beaten and crucified. But it is good that Jesus took our sin to the grave, it’s good that as he took away our sin, his righteousness covered us, and it’s good that the Father’s plan was being fulfilled.

Friday was Jesus’ first day in the place of the dead; Saturday was the second, and Sunday the third. And on that third day, “God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen.” Acts 10:40 MSG

Each year as we transition from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, I’m reminded of Dr. Tony Campolo’s famous story, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Comin’!” No matter how bad Friday looks, we know everything will be fixed by Sunday. We know the future!

At any given point in time, God’s plan may not make sense to us. But only God knows the entire plan; only God can see the big picture. “My thoughts are not your thoughts; your ways are not My ways,” says the Lord. Isaiah 55:8

So our mission is to trust in the Lord, and lean not on our own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 Everything will be all right in the end. If everything is not all right, it is not the end.

May you and your loved ones have a safe and blessed Easter.
He is risen; He is risen indeed!

Norton Lawellin