Holy Week?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
If we could rewind the film and take an up close and personal look at the events of Jesus’ life, some 2000 years ago today, I think we would be astonished, to say the very least, to see all that was going on in His life. Even a casual look at the events that led up to His final visit to Jerusalem, His triumphal entry into that city He loved, gives us much insight into what was going on in His mind and heart. Let me encourage you to begin reading in Luke’s gospel, beginning in the 31st verse of chapter 18, and continuing through at least the end of chapter 19, so you can have your own personal look into these particular hours of His life.
As I read these stories, I can’t help but wonder how we can be so uninvolved, so dis-interested, so unengaged. Yes, I know that 2000 years is a long time, per our sense of time, but I also know that the reality of what He accomplished during this week of His life, is as relevant today, as it was then. It is difficult for me to imagine why every believer is not completely absorbed in the wonder of His Person and in the miracles that He accomplished during these days, even though they took place so long ago.
This verse intrigues me, especially in light of what I have just said: “And as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” (Luke 19:37-38 NASB).
I have no idea how many miracles you have seen, but I do know that, as a believer, you have experienced at least one—The New Birth—and that one miracle should cause you to live in humble adoration of The One who died, in order that you might be free to live and to love. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, should ever distract us from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Him, not even the shenanigans of Easter.
The other day, I heard President Barack Hussein Obama declare that the United States is not a Christian nation, but a nation of citizens. Yes, I reacted and thought, “How can the president of this country make such a statement, especially in view of the fact that this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles!” After thinking about it for a while, however, I wonder if he did not, inadvertently, speak the truth. Based upon the way we have “pagan-ized” the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, with our pagan appeals to the flesh, with our pagan efforts to attract the masses, and, especially, with our apparent attraction to and love for these pagan efforts, I am afraid that he was correct.
Tomorrow is Thursday of Holy Week—Maundy Thursday—the day that marks His last supper with His disciples, including Judas!, His washing their feet, and, especially, His changing the shadow of Passover into the substance of Holy Communion—the Eucharist. I am looking forward to gathering with my small flock and leading them in thinking about the significance of these events, and, certainly, in sharing with them the bread and the wine of the Eucharist. We will remember Him and we will be astonished and we will stand in humble adoration of His Person and we will thank Him for the gift of life—eternal life.
We will love Him and we will love each other, and we will do so because He first loved us.