Well, welcome back again. And this week happens to be Holy Week. At least that's what we refer to it as in the church. It's that last week of Jesus earthly life here and his ministry here and there were so many things that happened and I think it's important for us as a church to pause and reflect on the different events of that week that lead up to Easter which then begs the question what is Easter to people?
When you talk about the church you're talking
the
the church universal
church universal. Yeah.
Right. Right. There's a lot that happens in that week and there's a lot that happens in our own lives in that week like what are you going to wear to church on Sunday? That's a big concern for people like getting your Easter dress, your kids dressed nicely, getting all those plastic eggs filled with money or chocolate or whatever, hiding all those eggs and talking about the Easter Bunny and all that stuff. or and then there's the people that don't even I mean it's not even a blip.
Well, yeah. And that's a great point that this event these days get hijacked by what they've become in our culture. I can remember one of the really high points in my ministry life was a number of years ago when a local reporter came on our campus, got us got permission to and he just was going to talk to people as they were going in and out of church services as to what Easter meant to them. And he pulled one person who had been to our church and he was leaving the service and he asked him the question what Easter meant to him and he said Easter egg hunts and chocolate and I thought there's a great recommendation of what my ministry has done in the life of people.
Your message must have been profound.
Must have been very profound because I don't think I ever mentioned that in my message.
Well, I don't know if it was that morning or it might have been another Easter morning. back in the day I used to do parking lot duty which is a gift. I mean, not everyone can do it. and I was out in the parking lot and there was a guy further down who was directing cars to park and it was typical Easter Sunday. morning where people that come several times a year only were trying to get into the parking lot and there was this gentleman trying to park his car and people were pulling in and out and he rolled down his window and let out a string of exploitives to the parking lot attendant which was like happy Easter. and now in this man's case we do have to give him credit. He went into the church, heard the message, obviously something happened inside of him and he came out and apologized but That was his start to Easter.
Yeah. It's just I just remind myself over and over again that the things that have become associated with this holiday have nothing to do with the events of scripture.
No.
it was a incredibly hard week. I mean that's an understatement for Jesus and the disciples and the things that happened. And this is really true. I mean we do Good Friday services. We do Monday Thursday services. Good Friday, is only the only way you can even call it good is because of the result of what Christ did on the cross. It was a brutal day.
Well, there are several movies out that, speak about the life of Jesus. And one of my favorite is The Passion, and it's an old movie now, but it was a it's probably one of my very favorite depictions of what happened in those last weeks of Jesus' life. And one of the most brutal scenes that they did was the him being whipped and beaten in the courtyard and the faces of the men as they tore the flesh off Jesus back. And I have asked people before or told people that I've watched it and so many have said to me, "Well, I can't watch it." And I'm going to be a little judgmental here and ask why not. I we need to see what he did for us. It's not neat. It was bloody and gory and excruciatingly painful. And I don't think for me, I'm just going to talk now. For me, seeing that, and I try to watch it every year, brings the depth of what Jesus suffered and ultimately died for. it brings it home to me in a way that just you know, reading about it in scripture, which is, you know, graphic enough, but when I see it, because I'm so visual, I realize what he did for me.
Yeah. And often times I find that we want to rush past Good Friday. We want to rush past the crucifixion and get to Easter because the story in Easter is glorious. he rose from the dead. He's alive today. But you can't rush past what he did on the cross because of his incredible love for you and for me. me. And so as we come into this week, there's a sense in which it's one of those times where you really see a direct confrontation between what the world wants us to celebrate and what the world says this is all about. Whether it's from Easter egg hunts to fashion that you wear and at least in our part of the country, for so many, this is this the week that begins vacation, a spring break for schools. And that's all that the world wants us to see. And yet what God wants us to see is this is the culmination of the plan that's been in existence for all of eternity that he would send his son to this earth to die for us.
And Jimmy, I also think that we need to live and breathe and think and pray through the entire week because you know, let's go to the last supper that Jesus has with his disciples and he's giving them some more information and there's a lot of confusion. there's a lot of responses to what he's doing. You know, he's washing their feet and Peter, I love Peter's like, "No, wash all of me." Then there's Judas kind of slinking around in the back. and Jesus speaks that someone's going to betray him. So, think about the tension of that time. and then think about Jesus going well, and he announces that someone's going to betray him and they're all going, "Is it me? Is it me?" Well, that's unsettling. Then Jesus goes into the garden to pray and the disciples that are with him are struggling. they are tired and they fall asleep and he's there praying. You know, blood is dripping from him in agony. The enemy is taunting him probably at the same time. And yet in the midst of that, he shows compassion even on the disciples. And then can I keep going?
Sure.
Okay. Let's then take it to where Judas appears with I mean like a ton of people which is interesting because Jesus knew how humble and kind and compassionate Judas knew that about Jesus but he arrives with you know this whole barrage of men with weapons to arrest one man and Jesus even in that scene when they say who are you the Jesus of Nazareth and he says I am and they fall back
right
I mean gosh and then Peter, you know, again, Peter, beloved Peter, goes and whips the ear off, cuts the ear off of Malchus's servant, and Jesus shows compassion again and heals the man's ear. At the same time, he's saying to them, who are you looking for? I'm him. He's still he's protecting his disciples during that time as well.
Yeah. And I to me, that's a definition of an action of perseverance. So, he at the end. He knows what's coming and he's at the end of his earthly life and he knows what he's going to suffer and yet he thinks of others.
Yeah.
He just he gives himself over to others. I mean, you go back to the scene you talked about washing the disciples feet. If I understand scripture correctly, he washed Judas's feet before Judas leaves the room.
Which to me is like, you know, why would you do that?
Yeah.
Except that his he lived his life in such a way that he was going to fulfill why he came to this earth, why the father sent him to this earth. And even till the very end, even in the garden, he's thinking about other people, not just himself.
And always, always throughout his conversation with Caiaphas and Pilate and Annis and all of them, he's always pointing back to the father. Always like, "This is who I'm from. This is who sent me. You say I'm a king. You've said that I am I've been sent from the father.
And I just I don't know to be honest with you, babe. I don't know if there has been a time in my life when I have been struck as deeply as I have this year. and some of that has to do with studying the Gospel of John. It's just it's breathtaking. the other one more situation that really hits me is when Jesus is arrested and Peter we all know he denies and not just denies he swears his denial but the part that gets me and it get me right now is when Jesus looks at him and catches Peter's eye and Peter repents and weeps bitterly because he knows what he's done. I would imagine sorry for my voice people but it's touches me so deeply that he looks at Peter with love.
Yeah. And I mean that the evidence of that comes in John 21 when he restores Peter where he could have said just go on. You're I'm done with you. He restores him back with the deepest sense of love for this man and who he would become despite all that had happened. and so all this to say as we're right in the midst of Holy Week, I hope that you'll find the time to spend time thinking through this as you head to Easter this year.
So if we can summarize if we look at that last week of Jesus life and all throughout his ministry, but we see his compassion, we see his forgiveness, we see his mercy, we see him begging the father to let the cup pass him, but to say but then to say instead, "Your will be done, not mine." We watch him as he shows compassion even from the cross and then saying at the very end father forgive them because they don't know what they're doing and then breathes his last breath and says it is finished. Let's let that move us and change us. Not just an emotional movement but let the knowledge of what he has done on our behalf so that we can spend eternity with him in heaven. Let that change us this year and throughout the year. Have a blessed Easter.