So, if
you haven't heard, it's Holy Week. A week devoted for Christians remembering
the story and preparing themselves for Easter. This is a week that can be
easily embraced or forgotten about. And honestly, I've never seen why it was a
big deal, until this year.
Since I
came to college, I have been studying the gospel and what its like to be
gospel-centered. The Lord has not held back in showing me a new depth to it.
But, so often when we are in church, bible study, or just in conversation, we
shorten the story of the gospel. It becomes two words: the gospel. We do not
expand on it, we simply leave it at that. We take it for granted, not
purposefully, but we do. We have forgotten the pain and the cost of it. And,
when we do sit and remember, we skip through suffering to the hope-filled
finale. Somewhere in the mix of living a gospel-centered life, we have lost the
true wonder of the gospel.
"It's
Holy Week. Slow down. Remember. Do not run to the resurrection without tasting
death. Walk with Christ, not past Him"
So, this
Holy Week, let's refresh our memory a bit, widen our view to see a new depth,
and prepare ourselves to feel the true weight of this perfect story.
Matthew 20:17-19
17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the
Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of
Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be
mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Mark 8:31
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer
many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers
of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
In these passages, Jesus literally stops all the
disciples in their tracks and throws out that he will be beaten and killed when
they go into this city, but not to worry because he is going defeat death. I
would have loved to see the reaction of the disciples in the passage. Were they
confused and anxious or frustrated and angry or trying to find another city to
go to so that this could be avoided? I don’t know, but we know that Jesus knew
what was going to happen.
John 12:23-25
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates
their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
What a perfect kernel of wheat died. And what a
bountiful amount of seeds it produced. I love how this passage says that: “The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be GLORIFIED.” There were no words of death
in that. There were words of glory and hope.
Matthew
27:33-37
33 They came to a place called Golgotha 34 There they offered
Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink
it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting
lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head
they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE
JEWS.
Mark
15:29-32
29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads
and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three
days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the
chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He
saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this
king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
When I read these two passages, the lyrics
“Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers,” come to mind.
We are those people. I can so easily sit back and think ‘Wow. Those people are
the true definition of awful, lowly people.” But, that was us. Those were our
words thrown at him. Those were our hammers that nailed him to the cross. And
it was our sin that infected his sinless body.
Luke
23:26-31
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene,
who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him
carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including
women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your
children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the
childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
30 Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills,
“Cover us!” ’ 31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what
will happen when it is dry?”
John
19:5-6
5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests
and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate
answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a
charge against him.”
Goodness. Another mockery. A crown of thorns
built for Jesus’ harm and a purple robe because he was the true King, but they
just wanted to tear him down and watch him suffer. Pilate heard both sides,
from Jesus and the chief priests. But, through political pressure of obeying
Caesar’s ways, Pilate gave Jesus to them to crucify. Jesus’s own people.
Crucifying him.
Luke
23:44-47
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain
of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his
last. 47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely
this was a righteous man.”
The power of the Lord here is incredible. First
off, everything went dark in the middle of the day, so people had to know
something big was about to happen. And then, this insanely large divide between
God and earth was TORN. This was a barrier that took high priests insane
amounts of preparation and cleansing to be able to go into a holy place. And
even then, some were struck down and had to be pulled out by a rope. But, IT
WAS TORN, so that we might have a personal relationship with God, Our Father.
John
19:29-30
29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it,
put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he
bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The power of the Lord, yet again! Here, he
utters three words. Powerful words that changed eternity. But, he was still in
control of his life, for he committed his life to the Father and then knew his
last breath before he breathed it. There were no guesses, it was by his power.
Mark
15:46-47
46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped
it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a
stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of Joseph saw where he was laid.
Matthew
27:65-66
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure
as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on
the stone and posting the guard.
These devoted followers of Jesus went and
honored him through a proper burial. They wrapped him with linen and laid him
in a tomb and rolled a rock in front of the opening. The official secure the
tomb and posted guards there. And since the disciples know what happens next,
just think about the three long days of anxious anticipation that went through.
The grief and loss they felt, but the excitement they were looking forward to!
Mark
16:5-7
5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a
white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 “Don’t be
alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.
He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell
his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will
see him, just as he told you.’ ”
Luke
24:6-7
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he
was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the
hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
Now I’m singing, “Then bursting forth in
glorious day, up from the grave He rose again!” In this, we find hope and
salvation! He defeated death forever! I can only imagine what Mary and Mary
Magdalene felt and did when they saw that Jesus was not there and heard that he
was risen and headed to meet with all of them again!
John 20:16-18
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary. “She turned toward him and cried out
in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on
to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and
tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the
Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
The way Jesus says “my Father and your Father”
and “my God and your God” is so huge to me. He brings unity between himself and
us through this!
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus did not just leave after he rose from the
grave, but he gave us further instruction. So obviously, it is important! He
says that because of what he has just done, ALL AUTHORITY in heaven and on
earth belongs to him. And through this, we are called to go out and tell people
this story, baptize them, teach them, and bring them along the journey with us.
But he does not just end there. He ends with such a sweet comfort that he is
with us ALWAYS. Not just on bad days or mission days or only good days. ALWAYS.
Acts
3:15
15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the
dead. We are witnesses of this.
Acts
4:33
33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in
them all
1 Corinthians
15:3-8
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance :
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was
buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and
that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared
to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of
whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as
to one abnormally born.
These passages show that Christ’s followers are
going out and proclaiming the testimony of his life. They are blunt. Their
words are powerful. They are thankful because they know the grace upon grace
upon grace that has been poured out among them. And they know that most
importantly, they must not hold this for themselves but they have to share the
gospel.
The Gospel. This is the reason we live, not just
scrapping by, but we live an abundant life. This is the reason we worship,
because a sinless and perfect man took on the weight of the world’s sin and
died the most painful death. This is the reason we are thankful, because we see
the cost it took to cleanse our sin. This is the reason we have hope, not just
for tomorrow, but an eternal hope that we will be with Christ forever. We are made whole through Jesus Christ and his
sacrifice.
I said that this Holy Week was different for me.
Its because I was convicted of just slipping by when I heard the song “How Deep
The Father’s Love For Us.” The lyrics are so powerful and are solid truths. The
one that rips into my soul is, “The Father turned His face away.” OUR sin
caused Jesus to be disconnected from his Father. They had perfect unity while
Jesus was on earth, but when our sin came upon him, the Father turned His face
away. How can that not rip you to shreds?!
If you want to see another depth, I would
recommend watching this clip from Passion of the Christ. It is chillingly
graphic and intense, but seeing this story played out makes your stomach twist
and bring tears to your eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv6Ne47K3SI
So, on this Holy Week, stop whatever you are
busying yourself with and take time to remember. Remember how our Savior was
treated and mocked. Remember how he was beaten. Remember how he was hung on a
cross to be killed shamefully. Remember how the veil was torn. Remember that
the grave could not hold him. Live in the fact that our Lord conquered the
grave forever for us because of his deep, overflowing love for us. And go out,
sharing the gospel, as he called us to do so that others might share in this
exciting story with us.
Now, worship our Savior, Jesus Christ.
How Deep The Father’s Love for Us :
In Christ Alone:
