Holy Week, Sunday
Easter Sunday
1 Corinthians 15:54-58: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
‘Therefore’ is a great word. It suggests an important conclusion. You can get a hint of it by thinking about the impact of the social distancing that took place in 2020. Remember? Covid dominated everything. TV and radio talked about little else. The economy was completely upended and normally thriving businesses were hurting or closed altogether. Restaurants squeaked by on takeout orders. You could get admitted to a hospital, but you couldn’t visit a patient there. Schools shut down.
Now you're in a position to grasp the impact of Paul’s ‘Therefore.’ If Covid impacts all of life like this, how much more should the truth of the resurrection? Paul’s reasoning: THE RESURRECTION CHANGES EVERYTHING! Therefore, be steadfast and immovable, because your future is not up for grabs but is secure. Therefore, because Jesus promised, “Because I live you shall live also...” Therefore, because of the sovereign permanent love of God in Christ, don’t be paralyzed with fear; be invigorated by faith! The resurrection changes everything, because Jesus frees us from its grip, to go, to tell, and to celebrate the good news. What is this good news? The certainty of the resurrection influences everything. Jesus lives and so shall I!
Holy Week, Saturday
Holy Saturday
Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, the day of rest. Jesus is resting from his finished work on the cross: “Tetelestai!” He has gone to the Father. And the disciples are in despair, absolutely numb with grief. A day of rest? They feel more paralyzed than rested. And to top it off, there is still fear in the streets. The Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Pilate are all passing the buck and giving orders: Make that tomb secure. Put a guard there. Those despicable vermin will steal his body if we give them the opportunity. They’ll claim he is risen. We have to stop them. Meanwhile, the disciples have no expectation of anything happening. Their dreams are shattered. All they know is, “He’s dead and it’s over.” The women are the only ones willing to do anything. They prepare spices to combat the smell of a rotting corpse. The despair hangs over all of them like a dark cloud. Yet God is at work in the midst of the silence.
Where can you identify despair or depression in your life? Can you conceive that while you rest and wait, God calls you to a deeper kind of trust? You already know that the victory has been won by Jesus. Just as He set His face like flint to endure the cross, He calls you to take up your own cross and follow Him. Tomorrow there will be a celebration. In the quiet of today, are you preparing your heart to celebrate the greatest event on the Christian calendar? Jesus will surely be there and will not be silent. Right now, consider what God is doing in your life during Holy Week and be ready to follow Him anew.
Holy Week, Friday
Good Friday
Matthew 27:50-52, 54 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split… When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
The old hymn asks a poignant question: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The death of Jesus was a death like no other. On the one hand it is correct to say that Jesus was put to death by wicked men. But it is equally correct to say that they could not do that. Matthew and John record the same thing: ‘He gave up His spirit.’ Many of the church’s most famous hymns recount the impact of the death of Jesus.
”Alas and did my savior bleed, and did my sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes which I have done he bled upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree.” (Isaac Watts)
The singing of this hymn by the congregation was what God used to open the heart of Fanny Crosby, who would go on to pen some of the greatest hymns of the Christian faith. She wrote: “And when they reached the third line of the fourth stanza, 'Here Lord, I give myself away,' my very soul was flooded with a celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting 'hallelujah,' and then for the first time I realized that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand and the Lord in the other."
The truth that captured Crosby was the truth of ‘propitiation.’ In the Bible, propitiation refers to God’s anger being poured out on a substitute. The story of the Pharisee and the Publican demonstrate that the Publican understood that his only hope was in God’s wrath being put on another. Luke 18:13 "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful (propitiated) to me a sinner." This truth is what the Old Testament sacrificial system demonstrated dramatically. Was I there when they crucified Jesus. Yes I was.
Our enjoyment of God has been accomplished only because the anger that we deserve has been poured out on a substitute. When you understand this, the only conceivable response is one of personal devotion: Hence, Isaac Watts wrote:
But drops of grief can ne’er repay, the debt of love I owe;
Here Lord, I give myself away: ’Tis all that I can do.
The Christian faith makes sense logically. But intellectual asset is not all that there is to faith. The heart rejoices, and the will surrenders. Tis all that we can do!
Holy Week, Thursday
Thankful Thursday
It’s interesting to compare Peter and Judas as Jesus’ death approached. Peter and John had gone to make arrangements to celebrate Passover in the Upper Room. There, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and gave the Passover meal its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord’s Supper. When He announced that one of them would betray Him, they were baffled. Peter was in complete denial; Judas was silent. Even after Judas left to complete his betrayal, the other disciples still didn’t suspect he would be the betrayer.
Judas was the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. This was a man who had seen Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead. He heard everything the others had, and had himself preached, performed miracles, even casting out demons (Luke 9:1-2). Think about that. Judas did miracles and cast out demons—a most sobering thought. Jesus had sent them out two by two, and while we don’t know who his partner was, no one suspected that anything was amiss. We shudder at the thought that Judas could do all that.
It was exactly as Jesus had said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
How should we understand this? Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all else and is desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Obviously, Peter didn’t know what was in his heart that night. And while Judas knew he had already made a deal to betray Jesus, even he didn’t fully understand the implications of it. We know that Judas had been stealing from the collective money bag, though no one else knew. It’s obvious that unconfessed sin opens a person up to more and deeper betrayals. When you get close to Jesus, you become more his disciple or more estranged from Him.
On the surface, the difference between Peter and Judas doesn’t seem that big. Both had done ministry in the name of Jesus. And both sinned grievously. Because it’s Holy Week, you’re probably reading this because of your interest in the Christian faith. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about something you want to do in the name of Christ. Just remember that the ‘Christian faith’ is just that. It isn’t about some grand gesture of service or sacrifice. It’s about FAITH. Jesus told Peter, “I have prayed for you that your FAITH may not fail. And when you have returned, strengthen your brothers.” The difference between Peter and Judas was faith. It’s a lesson we need tattooed on the inside of our eyelids.
This year as we approach the glory of Easter, remembering Jesus’ death and celebrating His resurrection, consider the need to have your own faith strengthened. The gospel is all about what Jesus has done for you. What a savior! That makes you thankful. It makes your faith soar! And that is what you live your life out of.
Holy Week, Wednesday
Betrayal Day
Judas was becoming more frustrated and disillusioned. He had been with Jesus from the beginning and saw everything that the others had seen. Palm Sunday had shown that the multitudes were behind Jesus. But instead of taking advantage of this popularity and focusing on Rome as the enemy, he rebuked the religious leaders. "Blind guides! You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness...Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?" (Matthew 23:24-33)
He could see their reaction--the frustration, the hate, the looks on their faces as they murmured together. Judas was frustrated, too. He really had hoped that Jesus would lead a kingdom change that he could be a powerful part of. It was clear to him how much Jesus needed him, but he was blowing it. Now Jesus was speaking abstractly in parables, even predicting the destruction of Jerusalem.
Judas’ disillusionment ripened into contempt. He could see the leaders' desire to silence Jesus. Maybe Jesus just needed a “shake up” to resume uniting everyone against Rome. “I can help Jesus right now. He’s focusing on the wrong enemy.” He began to negotiate with Jewish leaders on how to give them the right opportunity for arrest. Perhaps that would wake Jesus up to what he really needed to be doing. “After all, Rome is in power; we can’t really do much. And besides, I could really use a little extra cash.”
Here’s a lesson in case you haven’t gotten it. Have you ever noticed how your own frustrations in life begin to ripen into disillusionment and then into contempt? When God doesn’t cooperate with our agenda and bidding, betrayal begins to ripen in us as the idols in our hearts come to the surface with new power. Idols like sex, money, and power begin to sing their siren song and rebellion begins to make sense to us. As you think about Judas’ betrayal today, what frustrations are you facing? How does that disillusionment begin to feed your idols that beckon you to come and worship? Whose rule and which throne will determine your life today? Holy week wasn’t holy for Judas. Will it be for you?
Holy Week, Tuesday
Temple Cleansing Day
Jesus was disgusted with what was going on in the Temple in God’s name. Because Israel was under Roman rule, the coinage was Roman while Jewish law stipulated that each person was to pay half a shekel at Passover time. To remedy this, money changers converted money on the spot—but at a hefty fee. The poor were taken advantage of in the process. Two doves were to be sacrificed, but this was a hardship in transporting them long distances. Bird sellers were there to supply the need, but of course at unheard-of prices. Jesus overturned their theft tables and ran out the corrupt vendors, whose dealings created a noisy environment that was devoid of spirituality.
This was the second time Jesus cleansed the Temple. The first time Jesus did it, he was confronted by Temple priests, but not this second time. Apparently, the sounds of adulation from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem intimidated the Jews enough that they didn’t dare oppose Jesus. But Jesus’ actions angered members of the Sanhedrin who got a cut of the vendor’s profits. They began to talk about ‘what could be done to stop this.’ Passover time meant money for them; how dare Jesus interfere?
Of course, Jesus knew all about this. He used this incident to inflame hostility from the Jewish leaders. Why? Jesus was a threat to their authority. But no doubt they feared what might happen if the Romans believed that Jesus was a King that would threaten their control. Scripture says that Jesus had set his face like flint (Isa. 50:7; Luke 9:51f) to go to the cross. He was determined to save His people from their sins. That’s you and me.
Jesus opposes religion that is merely a show of self-righteousness. But despite our self-righteousness, He is determined to deal with it by going to the cross. Have you come to terms with the amazing determination of Jesus? Have you determined to follow Him? It’s part of the faith-response to the love of Christ that will not turn loose of us!
Holy Week, Monday
This is the day that Jesus cursed the fig tree and it withered.
It had no fruit, only leaves. Scripture records that He was hungry and it was not the time when fig trees bore fruit. Mark’s gospel explains that this took place over two days. He cursed the fig tree on the way to cleanse the temple and the next day they saw it it had withered from the roots up. That had to have gotten the disciples’ attention.
Why would He curse the fig tree if it was not the right season for figs? You may know that fig trees are unusual; fruit begins to appear before a tree produces leaves. When they saw from a distance that this fig tree had leaves, they expected that it had fruit already forming too. (Fig trees can produce a couple of crops in a season.) The disciples likely didn’t understand it at the time, but a fig tree was a picture of the nation of Israel. By cleansing the temple and cursing the fig tree, Jesus was denouncing the worship of Israel. Like the fig tree, it was barren and had no fruit.
What fruit does God want to see in us this week? Is it not the fruit of faith and repentance? God isn’t looking for us to scurry around with a list of things we intend to do. He wants us to look at what is going on in our hearts. Where have we become lukewarm? When have we become guilty of being actors rather than worshipers? How are we valuing our relationship with Him above all else? Who is most important in our lives? What are we doing that is important for eternity that consciously depends on the grace of God?
Monday is a good day to think on these things. History has a way of repeating itself.
Palm Sunday
Putting Holy back into Holy Week
People were excited. No, they were ecstatic. Passover was approaching and emotions were high. Two blind men had just been healed. Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Surely, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. He will be the king that frees us from the horrors of Roman rule.
On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus arrived at Bethany and then Bethphage, only two miles away. The elevation of 2600 feet gave a breathtaking view of the Holy City. You may recall that Jesus wept as he looked at the city. He was about to do something completely new, something he had cautioned others not to do for him. He was going to permit His followers to give a public demonstration in his honor.
Believe it or not, riding on a donkey was seen as an animal fit for a king (1 Kings 1:33). But more important, Jesus knew that riding on one would fulfill the messianic Prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. And because the Passover was only five days away, Jesus knew that Jerusalem would be filled with thousands of Jews. People came from great distances for the holy event.
It was customary to lay garments on the road for a king. They shouted ‘Hosanna!’ meaning ‘save now,’ but it was more political than religious. But Jesus allowed it because He was affirming that he was the Messianic King. It shows the determination of Jesus; John 11:57 makes it clear that there was a price on Jesus' head. But that would not stop him. He deliberately allowed this to enflame the resentment of Rome.
It brings us to an important question: “What do you want Jesus to do for you?” If we are honest, we all have a mental list of things that we hope Jesus will do for us, whether health or wealth. But remember that Jesus isn’t a political savior. He came to die for your real sins. Hidden sins. Persistent sins. Deep sins of the heart. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. He came to free you from resentment, bitterness, rage, lying, gossip, lust, judgmentalism, hypocrisy, and a short temper.
What do you want Jesus to do for you? There is always a temptation to fit religion into your own personal desires and purposes. It’s easy to get caught up in the latest political or personal crisis that you want relief from. But Jesus is a real savior. Trusting Him means fitting yourself into His purposes. Since it is Holy Week, think about sins that are a priority for Jesus to deal with. After all, it’s Holy Week.