Tag Archives: Holy Week

It’s only Friday, but Sunday is a comin’!

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The calm on Saturday sits in stark contrast to the disrupting events of Thursday night spilling into Friday … and to what awaited on that Sunday 1 which changed every day.

Jesus lay in exile in the empty, all of God’s promises at risk of defeat.

It’s Friday
Jesus is praying
Peter’s a sleeping
Judas is betraying
But Sunday’s comin’ 2

It’s Friday
Pilate’s struggling
The council is conspiring
The crowd is vilifying
They don’t even know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The disciples are running
Like sheep without a shepherd
Mary’s crying
Peter is denying
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s a comin’

It’s Friday
The Romans beat my Jesus
They robe him in scarlet
They crown him with thorns
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
See Jesus walking to Calvary
His blood dripping
His body stumbling
And his spirit’s burdened
But you see, it’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The world’s winning
People are sinning
And evil’s grinning

It’s Friday
The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands
To the cross
They nail my Savior’s feet
To the cross
And then they raise him up
Next to criminals

It’s Friday
But let me tell you something
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The disciples are questioning
What has happened to their King
And the Pharisees are celebrating
That their scheming
Has been achieved
But they don’t know
It’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
He’s hanging on the cross
Feeling forsaken by his Father
Left alone and dying
Can nobody save him?
Ooooh
It’s Friday
But Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The earth trembles
The sky grows dark
My King yields his spirit

It’s Friday
Hope is lost
Death has won
Sin has conquered
and Satan’s just a laughin’

It’s Friday
Jesus is buried
A soldier stands guard
And a rock is rolled into place

But it’s Friday
It is only Friday
Sunday is a comin’!

Faithful learners will take note of the ancient prophesies of the Resurrection 3, and of His Resurrection, and how His defeating death opened the door for our hope. There is more Mercy in Christ than sin in us. There is more Hope in Him than despair in us. There is more Life in Jesus than death in us.

Death could not hold Him. No matter what you’re facing, Sunday’s coming.

  1. Estimated as April 5, 33 AD in The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived, by Andreas J. Köstenberger, Justin Taylor, with Alexander Stewart (published by Crossway; see reading guide PDF). ↩
  2.  Easter meditation by S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000), pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego from 1953 to 1993. ↩
  3. Job 19:25–26; Ps. 16:9–11; Isa. 25:1–12; 26:19; Ezekiel 37; Dan. 12:1–3; Hos. 6:1–2. ↩
 

Passion Week » Wednesday. (What’s your price?)

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Passion Week readings for Wednesday: Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16; Mark 14:1-2, 10-11; Luke 22:1-6. Passion Week: Wednesday

Wednesday is a dark time in Gotham City Jerusalem. The religious leaders — the prominent and influential Sanhedrin — is plotting to kill the usurping “king” Jesus. They go in cahoots with Judas Iscariot, who knows his way around the city. Of the Twelve disciples, Judas is the only one from Judea, the metropolitan area of Jerusalem. He’s been bought with a price, and this one-time betrayal is no doubt the culmination of many calculations in his heart of how to get ahead (greed) and build a better life for himself. Apparently knowing God personally and walking with Him daily is not enough to satisfy his hunger for meaning and significance.

In the ancient (OT) times, thirty pieces of silver was the penalty paid by the owner of an ox that gored a slave to death (Ex. 21:32). Equivalent to about four months’ wages for a laborer (about $7,500 in modern terms), this meager sum suggests the low esteem in which Jesus was held by both Judas and the chief priests. 1 Also note that Judas (or Judah) was a popular and common name for sons in that day. Not so much since.

What’s your price?

  • What is the one thing, that if God doesn’t give it to you, you would hold it against Him and threaten to leave Him? (Is it a job or opportunity, a relationship, an award or accolade?)

Continue reading →

  1. Source: ESV Study Bible Notes on Matthew 26:15-16. ↩
 

Jumping up & down. (He is risen!)

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(Kari writes: Today, I pray we have no expectations except that Christ is Risen & we are undeserving recipients of extravagant grace.)

We conclude Holy Week by celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday.

He is risen!

The historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is very good. There are at least three points on which virtually all scholars agree (even critical scholars):

  1. EMPTY TOMB: The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.
  2. CHANGED DISCIPLES: Jesus’ disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.
  3. ORIGINS OF THE CHURCH: As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.
Now, the Scripture text…

Continue reading →

 

Wrapped up & laid down for the Sabbath.

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(Kari has a Saturday reflection here: The Quiet Wait.)

When the crucifixion of Jesus was complete, His body was lifeless. The Sabbath (Saturday) was about to begin, so as to not defile the body nor the earth, friends asked permission to bury Him.

48-49All who had come around as spectators to watch the show, when they saw what actually happened, were overcome with grief and headed home. Those who knew Jesus well, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a respectful distance and kept vigil.

The Burial of Jesus by Gustave Doré

50-54There was a man by the name of Joseph, a member of the Jewish High Council, a man of good heart and good character. He had not gone along with the plans and actions of the council. His hometown was the Jewish village of Arimathea. He lived in alert expectation of the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Taking him down, he wrapped him in a linen shroud and placed him in a tomb chiseled into the rock, a tomb never yet used. It was the day before Sabbath, the Sabbath just about to begin.

55-56The women who had been companions of Jesus from Galilee followed along. They saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. Then they went back to prepare burial spices and perfumes. They rested quietly on the Sabbath, as commanded.

—Luke 23:48-56 (The Message)

The Sabbath Day now represents the eternal spiritual rest that comes through faith in Christ (Hebrews 4:11).

But it also represented something else — namely, the means by which Jesus won that rest for us.

For the Sabbath day (Saturday) is the one full day that Jesus’ body lay in the grave. He died on Friday and rose on Sunday, but on Saturday there was no activity. His body lay lifeless in the tomb all day.

That’s one of the core meanings of the Old Testament Sabbath, and how Christ fulfills it. The Sabbath day represented the day Jesus’ body would lay lifeless in the tomb, to be raised the next day for our eternal salvation and rest in him.

(Thoughts on the Sabbath adapted from Matt Perman.)

 

Friday of Holy Week: It is finished.

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Kari continues writing meditations for each day of Holy Week…

Friday’s Reading: Matthew 26:47-27:51, Mark 14:43-15:38, Luke 22:47-23:49, John 18:3-19:37

“It is finished.”

—Jesus (John 19:30)

I clicked “send”, made sure it went through, then closed my laptop and exhaled in relief: Ahh…It’s finished. I’d been working on it night and day, and when I wasn’t working on it I was thinking about working on it. Ever been there? It’s not so much the time you spend working on something but the time you spend thinking about working on it. My mind and energies were depleted. As soon as the kids were settled for the afternoon, I crawled into my bed and took a nap, the first time I’d really rested that week.

I couldn’t rest until it was finished.

And as soon as it was, my whole body knew it. The sleep that had evaded me swept back all at once as I slept soundly despite the bright afternoon sun. The rest of knowing it is finished.

We rest because we know that it is finished.

Today, Good Friday, we meditate on Christ’s final words, His victorious cry from the cross of Calvary, the sacred words that fill my eyes with tears:

“It is finished.” (John 19:30)

From eternity past Jesus had a project. Nothing surprises God, and it was not Plan B that Jesus had to die in our place. He knew all along, and Jesus knew all along that this was His project. In a divine sort of way, Jesus never rested. Until then.

Then He finished.

In one final surrendering act Jesus “gave up His spirit” and the full wrath of God was poured out on His sinless perfect lamb. All the punishment for my selfishness, my pride, my greed. All the punishment for the rapists and robbers, swindlers and sex-traffickers. The most heinous of crimes, He took the punishment. He laid down His spirit. Died.

But of course Sunday’s coming.

But here’s where I get excited. Do you know what Jesus did after He rose from the dead? After he appeared, bodily, to more than 500 people? After he gave the great commission and then ascended into heaven? Do you know what He did after that?

He sat down.

Why? Because it was finished.

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12)

I took a nap. Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. His work was done. Finished. But here’s the beautiful part.
Continue reading →

 

How can we believe that He saves others when He can’t get off that bloody cross?

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On that wretched day the soldiers mocked him,
Raucous laughter in a barracks room,
“Hail the king!” they sneered, while spitting on him,
Brutal beatings on this day of gloom.
Though his crown was thorn, he was born a king—
Holy brilliance bathed in bleeding loss—
All the soldiers blind to this stunning theme:
Jesus reigning from a cursed cross.

Awful weakness mars the battered God-man,
Far too broken now to hoist the beam.
Soldiers strip him bare and pound the nails in,
Watch him hanging on the cruel tree.
God’s own temple’s down! He has been destroyed!
Death’s remains are laid in rock and sod.
But the temple rises in God’s wise ploy:
Our great temple is the Son of God.

“Here’s the One who says he cares for others,
One who says he came to save the lost.
How can we believe that he saves others
When he can’t get off that bloody cross?
Let him save himself! Let him come down now!”—
Savage jeering at the King’s disgrace.
But by hanging there is precisely how
Christ saves others as the King of grace.

Draped in darkness, utterly rejected,
Crying, “Why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus bears God’s wrath alone, dejected—
Weeps the bitt’rest tears instead of me.
All the mockers cry, “He has lost his trust!
He’s defeated by hypocrisy!”
But with faith’s resolve, Jesus knows he must
Do God’s will and swallow death for me.

—Source: D.A. Carson, Scandalous, pp. 36-37.

 

Thursday of Holy Week: one last day, the final hours.

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Kari continues writing meditations for each day of Holy Week…

Thursday’s Reading: Matthew 26:17-46, Mark 14:12-42, Luke 22:7-46, John 13-17

“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do.”

—Jesus, to the Father (John 17:4)

On Thursday we find Jesus sending the disciples into Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover meal. That evening they ate the Passover meal in an upper room where Jesus predicted both Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. Late into the night Jesus gives the disciples His final instructions and prays for them. The day closes in the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prays, “Not my will but Yours be done.” In just a few moments Judas will come on the scene…

This week Women’s Bible study started back up. Despite my planning and early mornings I still found myself cramming in all the last minute things that needed to be accomplished. (Fifteen minutes before study started I was at Safeway getting all the refreshments.) It seems like this whenever we go on vacation as well. We plan ahead, but there are still a hundred last-minute things to be done before we can leave. It’s always a little hectic at the last minute.

These passages today are Jesus’ final moments. Thursday is the last day He spends with His disciples before being arrested around midnight. And He’s not just leaving on vacation, He’s leaving earth! This, the rescue plan of the world, is coming to a close in a few short hours. Is Jesus frantic? Rushing around trying to finish things? Making a few quick rounds to do a few healings? No. He does stay up late giving the disciples His final words then praying His way through the night, but there is no sense of panic or rush. He walked His 33 years on earth with ordered, measured steps, and now, at the close of His time on earth, He can quietly and confidently say to His Father, “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do.”

Isn’t that what we all long to be able to say on our deathbed someday? I know I do. My greatest heart’s desire is to be able to say, with my final breath,

“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work You gave me to do.”

Is there anything better? Right now I’m writing the Sacred Mundane chapter on time, and it’s challenging me in beautiful ways. It’s amazing to see Jesus in His final hours, neither rushed nor frantic. Never in a hurry. He walked calmly through this life, completing all the work God gave Him to do and only the work God gave Him to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

Continue reading →

 

Wednesday of Holy Week: wasting time with Him.

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Kari continues writing meditations for each day of Holy Week…

Wednesday’s Reading: Matthew 26:3-19, Mark 14:1-11, Luke 21:37-22:6, John 12:1-8

“For she has done a beautiful thing to me.”

—Jesus (Matthew 26:10)

Today we see the religious leaders gathering at the palace of the high priest to discuss how they can secretly arrest and kill Jesus. We see Judas agreeing to betray Jesus. We see Jesus continuing to teach in the temple. And we see Mary break her alabaster flask and pour out her expensive ointment, anointing Jesus with worship, with love.  I know we just looked at this recently, but in case you need to consider it again today. (I know I do.)  Remember this beautiful waste … Mary tiptoed into the room, quietly knelt, and broke her alabaster flask, anointing Jesus’ feet … (the rest here)

~

Perhaps the application for today is simply to waste some time at Jesus’ feet? 

Could you do that today?

Martha was busy in the kitchen, busy serving:

  • Perhaps she was dyeing Easter eggs or sewing her daughter’s pastel dress.
  • Perhaps she had to have the house perfect before the guests arrived.
  • Perhaps she was fixing an elaborate Easter meal which consumed her thoughts and energy for the week.
  • Perhaps she had Easter crafts up to her eyeballs.
  • Perhaps she was trying to figure out what to wear to church on Sunday.
  • Perhaps she was searching Pinterest to find all the best Easter ideas.

None of these things are bad. But today, let’s waste some time at Jesus’ feet.

Can we agree to do that today?
Continue reading →

 

Tuesday of Holy Week: not to question, just to bow.

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Tuesday’s Reading: Matthew 21:23-26:3, Mark 11:27-13:37, Luke 20:1-21:36 (today’s are longer than the rest, perhaps break up into two sittings…)

Each day this week, Holy Week, we’ll follow Jesus with a meditation by Kari. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, returned on Monday to cleanse the temple, and now was being tested by the religious leaders.

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Him in His talk.”

Matthew 22:15

As you read through these passages you see Tuesday’s common thread: The religious leaders were testing Jesus. They challenged His authority, they “plotted how to entangle Him in His talk,” they came up with complicated scenarios regarding Old Testament law in order to test His knowledge. Over and over and over in these passages the Scribes, Pharisees, chief priests and Sadducees approached Him with “questions.” But their questions had nothing to do with wanting to gain knowledge, wisdom or understanding, their questions were challenges of authority.

One in particular stands out, because it’s so sharply contrasted with another story in this same passage. The chief priests and scribes ask Jesus about paying taxes, crafting their question in a way that might easily entangle a lesser man than Christ. But Jesus cuts to the heart of the issue:

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

Done. The response: “Marveling at his answer, they became silent.” 

Our world is full of people who are “questioning” the faith. I have little patience for these “questions” which are really nothing more than an attempt to be let “off the hook” of worshiping Christ and bowing before Him in humble obedience. Do you know what I mean? There is a place for humble, honest, sincere questions—but we are wise to recognize when our “questioning” is nothing more than an attempt to slip away from surrender. 

Continue reading →

 

Monday of Holy Week: when everything inside is overturned.

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Each day this week, Holy Week, we’ll follow Jesus with a meditation by Kari. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; He returned on Monday to cleanse the temple.

Monday’s Reading: Matthew 21:12-22, Mark 11:12-19, Luke 19:45-46, Luke 21:37-38

Jesus entered the temple.

Matthew 21:12

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and entered the temple. It is not a sweet and peaceful scene. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus is not “nice.” He’s ferociously loving. He’s viciously jealous. And in this scene He’s enraged, overturning tables and chairs, driving out the peddlers, refusing to let anyone carry anything through the temple. Why? Because, as He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.” God intended the temple to be a place where man and God commune. Where they interact. Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 56:7 where the prophet speaks for God and says,

“I will … make [my people] joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Do remember Leviticus 6 and the altar always burning? The temple was the physical place where that always-burning altar would be kept. This “house of prayer” would house their burnt offerings and sacrifices, would house all that was laid upon the altar. The purpose of the temple was to provide a place to offer the continual sacrifices and interact with God.

Our bodies now provide this place.

Since the once-and-for-all sacrifice was paid by Christ we now live the continual sacrifice, the living sacrifice. And what exactly are we to give to God as our living sacrifice? Romans 12:1 says,

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Your body is the holy temple and the holy sacrifice. A sacred space to worship and commune with God. Continue reading →

 

Holy Week: an invitation to focus. [Palm Sunday]

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Each day this week, Holy Week, we’ll highlight with a meditation by Kari. We begin with Palm Sunday.

This week He’s sitting quietly among the Peeps and pastels. Can you see Him? We have to really focus, don’t we? My life is cluttered too. It’s busy. The kids are always talking–it’s 6:28am and one just crawled into my bed as I typed that sentence–the needs are never-ending. When do we really focus? 

I’m inviting you to focus this week. To slow. This week let’s simply read through the short passages in the gospels that correspond with Christ’s activity for each of the days of Passion Week. I’ll do the same. We’ll focus each day on Jesus Christ, His journey to the grave—then to glory—and what it means for us. Will you join me?

~

Sunday’s reading: Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-38, John 12:12-15.

~

Hosanna simply means “Save now!” 

The disciples and the multitudes were expecting Jesus to establish an earthly reign.  They wanted an earthly Kingdom. They wanted freedom from the oppression of the Romans. They wanted Jesus to forcefully seize control of the political realm and establish an earthly reign in Jerusalem.  And this kick-off event of the Passion Week reveals their anticipation that Jesus would indeed be their new king.  They wave the branches and lay down their clothes, getting ready for Jesus to take over and reign.

But then He goes and dies instead.  Continue reading →

 

Today: groan with the earth.

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It’s not every year the the events of Holy Week align with Earth Day. But, when we think about it, it makes more than a little sense that Earth Day (today) is also Good Friday. Tonight I get to speak a meditation on the crucified Christ. We will gather to sing about the day God-in-a-bod died, the climax to the Story of the world.

The created world we live in has a stake in what happened on the day the Creator suffered at the hands of His creation. We not only trash the earth with our consuming and wastefulness; we trash the Creator with our willful sin and rebellion. (Seems like one is the symptom, while the other is the cause.)

Paul helps us see this connection:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await for it with patience.
—Romans 8:18-25

While we know the Holy Week leads up to Easter, the day to celebrate the ultimate Victory, we recognize we live in a good-friday-world, full of suffering and rebellion. We suffer not as complete victims, while the created order was not complicit in our rebellion. So, we meditate on Earth Day as part of the truths of Good Friday, in hopes that the full weight of what happened on Resurrection Sunday will be ours. Christ conquered all His enemies — sin, death, Satan, and our rebellion — to bring us to God. The Creator makes us His change agents in this world, as we experience the power for transforming coming not from us but from Him and through us.

In this hope we who trust in Christ have been rescued, and are being rescued. Celebrate Earth Day by looking to the Cross where our Savior — our only Hope — willingly gave Himself for us.