On this Maundy Thursday, we read about Jesus’s well-known act of washing his disciples’ feet. At this point in Jesus’s life, he understood that he was about to be betrayed by Judas and that he would suffer. Jesus had been hated, envied, and trailed by the Jewish religious leaders, and now, his enemies were about to get their opportunity to try to silence and destroy Him. The disciples, meanwhile, could not understand or accept what Jesus had been telling them would happen to him.

In this passage Jesus and his disciples, just like many other devout Jews, were in Jerusalem for the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This was a time of joy and thanksgiving as God’s people remembered how God had freed them from captivity in Egypt and how he caused the Angel of Death to pass over them.

In Mark 13, Christ’s words are directing his followers attention forward to the future reality of his second coming. Christ wants his followers to be prepared. Christ’s second coming is intended to be source of great hope and anticipation for the believer.

As Jesus enters the last week of his ministry on this earth, the day after his triumphal entry, he heads into the temple. On his way in, he encounters a fig tree with leaves yet no fruit. Upon seeing the fruitless tree, Jesus curses it then makes his way into the temple courts.