We approach the most holy and special time of the Christian calendar this coming week, Holy Week as we call it. This is the greatest act of God to show us love than anything we can imagine.
I want to urge all of us to consider participating in the worship experiences of the whole week in order to get the story and to see how much love is being shown.
Jesus arrives in Jerusalem because it is where what is going to happen must happen. It's the holy city, the city of David, the high water mark of the relationship to God.
He is riding a donkey to show that he is coming in peace and not a warrior king. Jeremiah made that quite plain, but not everybody gets it.
Thursday night he participates in the Passover meal to connect to what happened to deliver the slaves while they were in Egypt.
He washed the disciples feet to show a new level of servanthood and to prepare them for what was coming in his life and in theirs.
He introduced the Lord's Supper so that we would have a special way to remember him and to recall what he was doing for us when he died on the cross.
He reminded them of the importance of love, on the help the Holy Spirit would give them, he introduced the rooms made in heaven for our comfort, he described what would be happening and he prayed for you and for me in his great priestly prayer in John 17.
He introduced the concept of constant connection as he walked to the garden of gethsemane passing those vineyards along the way.
He asked for prayer for himself to face the awesome challenge of dying for us.
He taught us to pray Not My Will, but Thy Will Be Done. This is the ultimate way to pray about everything.
St. Luke tells us he sweated blood that night, a medical sign of deep passion, stress, anxiety, as he wrestled with Satan one more time about whether to drink this cup of crucifixion or not.
He was encouraged and ministered to by angels as he affirmed his decision to meet his purpose at restoration with God.
He was betrayed by an insider, Judas led the soldiers to his hiding place for the arrest.
He was healing a servant's cut off ear, thanks to Peter's resistance, to continually show God's love and compassion even to an enemy. To live by the sword, will mean we die by the sword.
He was dragged to an unfair trial, he was abused during the night. And he had Peter deny even knowing him three times before the cock crow.
He was delivered to Pilate with trumped up charges about being the King of the Jews, so the romans would execute him, since it was currently illegal for the Sanhedrin to carry out a death sentence. The jews found him guilty of blasphemy, because he said he was the son of God.
Pilate had him beaten with a whip of sharp bones and lead to maximize the pain. He was mocked in a purple robe, crowned with a ring of thorns to cut into his head, and then dragged off to be crucified.
Crucifixion was a powerful and painful way of trying to discourage people from crossing or rebelling against the Romans.
Jesus forgave them even as he was being nailed to the cross. He connected his mother to John for safe keeping. He offered a companion on the cross a promise of paradise. He quoted Psalm 22 so that those who listened to him would know what he was going through and that he would come back. Go read Psalm 22 as a devotional.
He died to take away our sins. He died so that justice of the penalty for sin would be carried out, but on our behalf. It had to happen to him, because as God's son, the quality of the sacrifice was needed to cover all of our sins.
The temple curtain was torn in two, allowing for all to see God rather than obscured behind the curtain. This was another sign that Jesus' death on the cross was bringing us back to God.
He died and was buried in a borrowed tomb, he didn't own anything of his own, he was totally dependent on God.
But this is not the end of the story. Come back for the rest of the story...
I urge you to worship on Palm Sunday and on Maundy Thursday, and on Good Friday so that Easter will be the fantastic and glorious morning it is supposed to be.
Blessings on your spiritual journey
Pastor Jeff
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