Monday according to Mark

In Saint Mark's Gospel, Holy Week almost orders itself precisely… but not quite. Palm Sunday is obviously identifiable. What we call Maundy Thursday can be accurately defined, or at least the events of its evening can. We presume that Mark 14.12 marks the beginning of what happened on Thursday: "And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb…"

We have to look for clues as to the delineation of each day of Holy Week. Mark 11.11 marks the end of Palm Sunday: "as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve." That seems to be specific, especially when we note that Mark 11.12 begins: "On the following day…" The events of Monday unfold. They include the only negative miracle of the Gospels, the cursing of the fig tree – unless, of course, you think that the Gadarene swine met a particularly unlucky fate too. The cleansing of the temple also occurs on the Monday, and the day draws to an end at Mark 11.19: "And when evening came they went out of the city." Yes – we appear to be correct; Mark 11.20 begins: "As they passed by in the morning…" That morning is Tuesday.

Tuesday, it appears, is incredibly full of activity. Jesus and his followers enter Jerusalem again where he is met with controversy, tricky questions, and people trying to catch him out. We hear the parable of the wicked tenants of the vineyard and the defining of the Great Commandment. When the time of debate and teaching in the temple grounds is over, the thirteenth chapter of Mark's Gospel launches into Jesus' teaching about things to come – the so-called Marcan Apocalypse, the complementary verses to what Saint John will deal with in the Book of Revelation. Tuesday ends with the chilling eschatological injunction: "Watch!"

So Wednesday begins at Mark 14.1: "It was now two days before the Passover…" That fits with Saint Mark's scheme of timing. With the Jewish understanding of the day beginning and ending not at midnight but at sunset, the Passover begins at sunset on Thursday and runs through to sunset on Friday… the sunset after which nothing can be done ritually to the entombed body of Jesus because it is already the Sabbath, which began at sunset on Friday and runs through to sunset on Saturday. The dead body of Jesus rests in the tomb on the same day that God rested after the six "days of creation". Saint Mark therefore only records two significant events on the Wednesday – the anointing of Jesus and Judas Iscariot's laying of plans with the chief priests for the betrayal of the following evening.

Because the Passover day has already begun at Thursday sunset, it is unnecessary to define the passing of Thursday into Friday. Jesus begins the Passover day with the institution of the Lord's Supper, the sacrament of his body and blood; his body is crucified and his blood is shed on the same festal day, hours before it comes to its close at sunset on Friday. It is the first hint, with the echo of the Passover of the Exodus story, that death will not hold him.

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So far, so methodical – until we begin to discover the anomalies. We discover them when we compare Saint Mark's account of the week with that of Saint John. It is tempting to regard Saint Mark's account almost as a transcription of diary observations, even though he is writing more than thirty-five years after the events that he is describing. However, Saint John says that Good Friday was "the day of Preparation of the Passover" (John 19.14). He says that those who led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the palace of Pontius Pilate did not enter the palace "so that they might not be defiled but eat the Passover" (John 18.28). If that be so, then they obviously have not eaten it yet! They are going to eat it on Good Friday evening, which makes the Passover, according to John, begin at sunset (when Jesus is already in the tomb) and end at sunset on Saturday. In Saint John's account the Passover is coterminous with the Sabbath. In Mark, it is the day before.

In Mark, the Last Supper is the Passover meal. In John, it cannot be – it has not yet been eaten – but whilst Jesus is dying on the cross, the priests are sacrificing the Passover lambs for the festival – on the day of Preparation. Whichever way you interpret the dating, both interpretations have profound theological significance.

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But this is Monday. Surely, what happened on Monday must be clear? It is to Saint Mark, but when you look for the story of the cleansing of the temple in Saint John's account, you find it not on the Monday of Holy Week, but right at the very beginning of the story of the ministry of Jesus – just after the call of the disciples – in chapter two! It comes immediately after the story of the changing of water into wine at the wedding at Cana – and that in itself is immensely significant theologically.

What is happening here? Here are two faithful proclaimers of the gospel assembling their material in different ways to prove similar, though not identical, principles. They both want to tell us that with the coming of the true Messiah the old order of Judaism is not only superseded but is actually seen to be degenerate. Saint John does it with the story of the changing of water into wine – followed by the cleansing of the temple. Saint Mark does it with the "negative miracle", the prophetic oracle – call it what you will – of the cursing of the fig tree – followed again by the cleansing of the temple.

Saint John wants to make the point of the coming of the new order right at the beginning of his story, so that everything else that he tells us can be seen in this light. Saint Mark wants to tell his story as a journey to the final showdown, so he has to put his account of the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Holy Week, prefaced by the cursing of the fig tree and enhanced by the events of the day before – the new order actually arriving on a donkey with waved palm branches.

To do it this way, Saint Mark has to tell his story as though Jesus only came to Jerusalem once – at the end of his life, at the time of his Passion. To do it according to Saint John's scheme of theology, John has the freedom to include the record of Jesus' other several visits to Jerusalem.

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Many years ago I was the minister of a church where, one evening, I found the church pantomime group using the church itself to rehearse in. They were using the sanctuary area too as part of their acting space, chasing around the communion table. I ordered them – yes, ordered them! – to leave the sanctuary area. They were highly offended. But, you see, I had read the book. They, evidently, had not.

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This is Monday, the day when Jesus cleansed the temple of Jerusalem. As you perceive, I am inclined to accept Saint Mark's order of the story as historical, whilst viewing Saint John's order as a theological transposition. It matters not, really. But what I do want you all to do on this Monday of Holy Week is to thank God that he called people with utterly brilliant minds to tell you the story of his only-begotten Son. For Saint Mark and Saint John – not to mention Saint Matthew and Saint Luke – were just that. And if you doubt my assessment of the brilliance, subtlety and theological creativity of the people whom God called to do this work of Gospel writing and proclamation, then meditate upon the fact that two thousand years later you are still reading what they wrote, and it is still changing your life.