This week, the week before Easter, is a week like no other. In the last week of Jesus’ life, He goes from being hailed as the conquering hero to being executed as a delusional and self-promoting king and insurrectionist. How could His fortunes have changed so drastically in just one week?

Our answer begins in the knowledge that everything Jesus did during the last week of His life had purpose and intention. None of it happened by chance. None of it. He knew exactly what He was doing.

In the days leading up to His crucifixion, Jesus arrives in Bethany and is anointed by a woman with very expensive perfume. The disciples are offended by this wastefulness, but Jesus approves of it. One of them, Judas, is offended to the point where he strikes a deal with the chief priests to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus described the anointing as preparation for His burial. It is this initial spark of offense that leads to His execution.

Jesus enters Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd’s “Hosanna!” They lay palm branches and coats on the road for the donkey to walk on. The date is Nisan 10. It is a significant day, for it is the day the Jewish people choose their Passover lamb. Jesus chose this significant day to present Himself as the final “once for all” Passover Lamb who will take away the sins of the world. On Friday, Nisan 15, the day the Passover lambs are sacrificed, Jesus too will give His life as a ransom for the many. He knew it had to happen. To get there, He offended everyone.

In Jerusalem, Jesus immediately goes to the temple and throws out the dishonest money changers, He heals the blind and the lame and accepts the praises of the children who continue to cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” These actions offend and infuriate the chief priests and the scribes.

He begins teaching in very offensive ways. His authority is questioned, but He stymies and embarrasses his questioners with His own riddles. He announces that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of the religious rulers. He later tells them that the Kingdom of Heaven is being taken away from them. These deep offenses are hardening their resolve to arrest and kill him.

They try to trap Him with a question about taxes. Jesus affirms that they are to pay their taxes. This, above all else, may have sealed His fate. The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in life after death, try to trap Him in a question about marriage in heaven. Jesus answers their question by pointing out that they don’t know the Scriptures. What an accusation! Jesus is seriously offending everyone.

He calls out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees in a scathing monologue called “The Seven Woes”. He predicts the destruction of the Temple. He speaks authoritatively about the end of time. Everything He said offended them.

By Thursday, Jesus had only one group left to offend — the disciples. He washes their feet, exposing their arrogant elitism. How dare He ask them to wash the feet of others? They are the Twelve. They have given up everything for Him and have performed impressive miracles. He announces that one of them will betray Him and that all of them will fall away. They are irritated with Him. He is supposed to conquer the Romans and set up His kingdom — a kingdom in which they will have authority. Why else did they leave everything to follow Him? Can you imagine how offended they must have been after three years of devoting themselves to His teaching? Within hours, they would all fall away because of Him.

Jesus left no offending stone unturned. They all stumbled over Him — and He did it intentionally as He turned His face resolutely toward Golgotha and the cross. If you’ve ever wondered how Jesus could have gone from conquering hero to crucified villain in just one week, well, now you know. It was a week like no other.

My dear friends, Jesus is still offending us. His eternal message of pure selfless love and unending selfless service offends our materialistic and hedonistic ways. We want what we want — and we want it when we want it. For Jesus to suggest that we crucify our self-worship and narcissistic idolatry by storing up treasure in heaven is just too much to ask. After all, we’ve earned it and we have every right to enjoy it. How dare He ask us to take up our cross daily and deny ourselves?

His call to suffering offends our convenient Scriptural interpretations that guarantee us health and prosperity. We preachers love to preach blessings on the “good” and sufferings on the “evildoer”. Doing so is popular in our materialistic culture — and results in more offerings for the church. How can we preach that God-honoring obedience and sacrificial giving could actually result in greater suffering on this earth? No preacher wants to preach that, at least not if they want money in the offering plate. We preachers are offended by Him too.

His call to sexual purity, even of the mind, deeply offends our selfish cravings. His call to forgive our brother again and again and again, offends our desire for revenge. His call to live with eternal values offends our desire to live for the here-and-now.

Like the religious rulers, we cover our sin in fancy religious traditions and flowery speech. We carefully point out the sins in others (the splinter in their eye) in an effort to deflect attention away from our own sins (the plank in our own eye). We want to be the sinless one to cast the first stone, but He bends down and writes our sins in the dust — another offense. We act one way on Sunday at church, while being someone different the rest of the week. He exposes our hypocrisy at every turn. Truth be told, we hate Him for it.

We weren’t there that day, but whether we recognize it or not, our hands held the hammer that drove the nails into His flesh. We are all guilty and gone astray, and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

It is in that understanding that we approach and celebrate Resurrection Sunday. He died and was buried, taking our sin and death with Him into the grave. He rises on Sunday morning, wearing the Victor’s Crown. Death and sin are defeated once and for all.

Are you offended by Jesus Christ? Good. Now you understand that you need His mercy and grace. You and I have no defense, nothing we can offer. We are guilty. But thanks be to God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has made a Way for us. Stop pretending to be something you are not. Accept your eternal and miserable guilt — and then confess it to Jesus. He will take it with Him to the cross and the grave. In return, He will give you a Victor’s Crown. He will write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Make no mistake, doing so will result in suffering, but He will never leave you or forsake you — and you will be forever known as an Overcomer.

My friend, don’t delay. Today is the day of salvation. We have no guarantee of tomorrow. Confess your sin and your need of a Savior. Give Him the Lordship of your life. Do it. Do it now. For you, it could be a week like no other!