The internet is amazing isn’t it? You can see all sorts of things from all over the world available at the click of button. Even better, we can make our thoughts heard all the world over in the same way.
But, with great power comes great responsibility.
Recently, I heard a preacher in our area disparaging churches who practiced “Holy Week” – dead religion he called it. To be fair, maybe he redeemed himself later. Maybe I should have kept watching (I’m a busy guy! I had better things to do!) The general premise this preacher was presenting was the idea that our rituals and celebrations have little or nothing to do with real, heartfelt relationship with Jesus.
I disagree… a lot. And here’s a few reasons why.
- A model for prayer: As we talked about this last Sunday (you can listen to that message from March 25), Holy Week is a model for prayer. In fact, it’s a model that Jesus himself gives us for prayer. We start, like the Lord’s prayer, with Palm Sunday. We start with praise and adoration of God. We finish, like the Lord’s prayer, with forgiveness of sin and deliverance from evil on the cross – Good Friday.
- It really happened: Whether you like it or not, Christianity is not about disembodied spirituality. The central claims of our faith are that all this stuff about Jesus really and truly happened. He was born as a human baby of a virgin mom (crazy right!?) He grew up. He taught, preached, and healed all throughout Roman Palestine. He got arrested and was crucified by the Romans. And he came back from the dead. Our faith doesn’t rely on vague divine revelation to a solitary prophet or holy man. It is grounded in history.
- The Way of Discipleship: The essence of Christian discipleship is “following Jesus”.
“And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3–6, NLT)
So, if this stuff really happened, and we believe that living our lives as Jesus did actually means something, why would we not walk through this week with him?
- Defining our terms: To be “holy” means to be set apart or to be categorically different. Holy Week is “set apart” as a different kind of week. We do things differently because the events that happened during this week radically altered the course of human history. “Maundy” (as in Maundy Thursday) comes from the same latin root as our word “mandate”. This is a day about Christ’s mandate for his disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Easier said than done right? But, that’s why we gather on Holy Thursday. Likewise, Good Friday is “good” not because of the pain Jesus experiences in suffering for sin but because he considered it good. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the shame of the cross for…(wait for it)…the sake of joy. I think this is worth our consideration.
As a general rule, we should become more interested, not less, in connecting our lives with the eternal life of Jesus. What do you think? Any thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns? Send them our way. And, as a side note, we hope that you get plugged in to a local church this week. You’ll be better for it. Happy Easter and may all the spiritual blessings of God be realized in your life this week!