The Bible accounts of Holy Monday are found in Matthew 21:12-17, 18-22, Mark 11:13-14, 15-19, Luke 19:45-48, and John 2:13-17. After spending the night in Bethany, Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem on Monday. On their way Jesus tries to get fruit from a barren fig tree:
Mark 11:13-14 (ESV):
13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Matthew 21:18-22 (ESV):
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Featured on that day is the account of Jesus confronting the temple leaders and clearing the temple and then teaching the people.
Matthew 21:12-17 (ESV):
12 And Jesus entered the temple[a] and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Notice in the Matthew account, Jesus not only challenged the authority of the Temple leaders by clearing the Temple, but also miraculously healed the blind and the lame. Again the people witnessing the miracles proclaimed him as the heir of David- Messiah (Son of David). meanwhile the chief priests and scribes were indignant and challenged Jesus to correct his followers, But Jesus quoted scripture: “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?” –Psalm 8:2
Mark 11:15-19 (ESV):
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they[a] went out of the city.
Notice that in Mark’s account, the chief priests and scribes wanted to ‘destroy’ Jesus but but they actually feared him because of the acceptance of the crowd.
Luke 19:45-48 (ESV):45
45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Luke lets us know that Jesus not only cleared the temple but taught the people there every day during Holy Week. Again in Luke account, the temple leaders were trying to figure out a way to do away with Jesus since the crowd continue to support him. Any action against Jesus during the day in the temple might have caused a riot.
John 2:13-17 (ESV):
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
John adds to the story that it was the week of Passover, so the crowds in Jerusalem and in the temple would have been far larger than normal and would have included a lot of folks from Galilee who supported Jesus and had witnessed the mighty miracles and healings that he had performed in his ministry.
After his temple ministry, Jesus and his disciples out of the city and back to Bethany, probably to lodge with Lazarus and his sisters for the night.