Passover Week | Day 1

Revisit some teaching that Pastor Josh did back in 2020 during COVID during Resurrection week!

Pastor Josh Strelecki opens this first session of a Passover Week series by examining three key events leading up to Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. He begins in Matthew 20, where Jesus privately foretells his death to the Twelve — only to have the disciples' response immediately reveal their misplaced focus, as the mother of James and John promptly requests positions of honor in the kingdom. Jesus uses the moment to contrast worldly power with kingdom values, teaching that true greatness is found in servanthood, just as the Son of Man himself came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom. The session then moves to John 12 and the Triumphal Entry, which Pastor Josh frames as the precise fulfillment of Daniel's 70-weeks prophecy — Christ arriving as king on prophetic schedule, welcomed with cries of "Hosanna," yet destined by prophecy to be "cut off" shortly thereafter. Finally, he examines the cursing of the withered fig tree in Matthew 21, interpreting it as a symbolic judgment on Israel's vain religious system — the fruitless leadership that possessed the opposite spirit of selfless service Christ had just taught. Together, these three episodes establish the theological and spiritual foundation for the week ahead: a King rejected, a servant-savior going willingly to the cross, and a religious system about to be set aside as God's redemptive plan unfolds.