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Holy Week
With Easter just a week out, celebrations and gatherings have been planned, churches will soon be adorned with members and visitors and there surely will be bunnies and baskets and egg hunts galore. But just for a few minutes lets consider what happened the week before Easter, Holy Week! The stories of the donkey ride and the palm branches and the shouting of Hosanna along Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem, but as an adult I am still in awe as I continue to be taught in greater depth the backstory.
The Holy Week that we celebrate, each year, is the culmination of Christ’s 33 short years of life living on this earth. It is the essence of the mighty power of God and the detailed plans that he orchestrated through his son Jesus to bring his life, death, burial and triumphant resurrection to the forefront of the hearts of all those who believed in God and in his son Jesus. Richard Harris at CPC (Christ Presbyterian Chruch) preched a sermon last year titles: "Who is This Jesus” and the following notes taken from his sermon regarding Matthew 21 :1-11are as follows:
So here are some of the facts:
1) Remember at the beginning of Christ’s ministry when Jesus would perform miracles and then he would say keep it quiet don’t go out and proclaim them…well it was time now to proclaim to this huge audience who he was and who had sent him to be the messiah.
The tables had turned and the proclamation of the true sacrificial lamb during Passover was just days away. Days and weeks before his triumphant entry Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and healed two blind men. He now had a great following as he had displayed his power now for all to see, The city was filled with hundreds and thousands of people who had come for Passover and his entry was as if he was the star of a parade. The city was quaking with energy.
2) Jesus rode into town, not on a warhorse or a chariot, but on a lowly donkey. Through out his life Jesus was a walker…and this one time to he chose to ride a donkey but why? The disciples were commanded to go into town and gather two donkeys, a mom and her colt. And they were told what to say to the keeper in order to retrieve them. Both of these things were written 500 years ago.( Matthew 21:2-3). A reminder that no details in God’s provisions are unseen or unknown or ever a surprise…maybe to us but never to God.
He sees all and knows all …at all times. He rode in on the colt who was young and had never had a rider…mom trailed perhaps as an overseer and protector and instinctively perceiving the gentleness of the colt’s rider.
3) People had expected a prophet, one greater than Moses, he arrived as expected as a king who had been prophesized, but not the king they expected. They imagined Jesus to come as a military leader to help overthrow the Romans but Jesus came to claim the cross not the throne. He came not as a political statement but as s Spiritual statement
4) Cloaks were placed on the donkeys as Jesus rode in and palm branches were waved, just as we wave American flags on July 4th. For palm branches were powerful symbols recognized by the Jewish Nationalists. But what they did not understand was that Jesus was not coming to destroy the enemies that they recognized as the Romans who were an earthly enemy, but he was coming as a Savior for the sinners and to overcome their inner rebellion (sin) toward a God who is the one true King of Kings, the master, designer and creator of the universe. And as he rode through the streets, he wept as he saw the people and knew of their many sins. Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
5) Jesus was not he king that the people wanted, he was the king that they needed.
6) Throughout this story, Jesus fulfills the prophesy about kingship and kingdom.
7) There were many lambs to be slain over the Passover Days but only one Lamb would be the true sacrifice, to cover our sins, for all of those who believe in Jesus.
The people wanted a leader, a military leader to combat the threats of the Romans and overthrow them,. but Jesus came to the people as a humble, quiet, man of purpose and peace; he came to save sinners from the penalty of death. He sacrificed his blameless , pure and sinless life to make way for us to live in the freedom and forgiveness of our sins, and to give us hope for an eternal life in the kingdom of God.
This Holy Week imagine for a minute the courage, the willingness to obey his father and the great sacrifice of pain and torture that he knew that was coming in the following days.I keep thinking about him walking along the road after being tortured. humiliated and wronged on so many fronts, trudging through every step in tremendous pain and being forced to carry that heavy cross...truly even our greatest imagination could not comprehend that whole scenario.
And just a note here on carrying a cross... we all have crosses to bear, many are really heavy and keep us threading step by step through life with sometimes seemingly unbearable weight. But just as Jesus not only carried his cross but was crucified on his....we are called to reach out to Christ to help us to carry the burdens we have been given and lay our prayers at the feet of our risen Lord.
When we consider this, we too might consider the many ways we fall short in our praise, our thanksgiving and our trust in the only one who has the power to help us combat our inadequacies, find joy even in our trials, give us a desire to know him and trust him in any circumstance and to allow his love to embrace us deep within our soul. Christ does not want us to just know of Him but he calls us to walk with him.
Though he does answer our prayers according to his purposes and plans, he is not a spiritual vending machine. He has come for the battle that lies within us, he has come for our hearts. We have a choice just as those pilgrims did long ago: we either choose to crown Jesus or kill him but he doesn’t want us to merely use him for our needs and wants, for those are temporary. His blessing flow through a relationship that come from knowing him and trusting him with the details that are carved into the very life that we live each day.
Holy Week is just that! The time had come for Christ to proclaim to the world his identify and the power of his Father God who sent him. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Blessed are we who know Jesus, love him and call him Savior and friend.
Day 1: Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday
Day 2: On Monday, Jesus
Day 3: On Tuesday, Jesus Goes to the Mount of Olive
Day 4: Holy Wednesdays
Day 5: Passover and Last Supper on Maundy Thursday
Day 6: Trial, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial on Good Friday
Day 7: Saturday in the Tomb
Day 8: Resurrection Sunday
Happy Easter to you my sweet friends.
May Christ bless you with His abounding love... for only a love that strong and unconditional would sacrifice his very life so that the sins of those of us who fall short each day could be forgiven. He lived, he died, he has risen and His Spirit lives within the hearts of each of us today, Blessed are we who know him, love him and trust him to be our savior. Amen
Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!
All past emails can be found at: Cathyjodeit.com (Contents Page)
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