Beginning with Palm Sunday, moving through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and culminating with the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday, Christianity has a really cool tradition of remembering the Passion of the Christ!
The first Holy Week was full of amazing and astonishing events. The same people who were welcoming Jesus as a royal king one day were calling for His immediate execution only a few days later. And executed He was. Although there was really no one who could bring any evidence against Him, Jesus was severely beaten and sentenced to death by crucifixion. These are the historical facts of Holy Week. In and of themselves, this is a rather sad story. The Passion should evoke raw emotion at the unbelievable unfairness of it all.
Don't stop there! Jesus didn't! Keep moving past Good Friday. Past the day of death. Past the hours of darkness. Past the politics. Keep moving to the third day. Join the women at the empty tomb of a Savior who just wouldn't stay dead. Join Peter and John as the angel confirmed what Jesus said would happen. Walk with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and hear Jesus unfold the Scriptures and cause your heart to burn within you. Celebrate the Lord's Supper and hold in your hand the body of the Lord, just as Thomas touched and believed. Don't stop with the sadness. Keep moving to the triumphant joy of a living Savior. Jesus is risen! Jesus lives.
Don't let the story stop with Jesus either. Jesus doesn't! This story works its way right into your own life. That sad day of Good Friday; that unfair death is for you! That joyous day of Easter; that day of life is for you! I know you have suffered from something in your life. Maybe recently, maybe long ago, but you have suffered. Unjustly, you have suffered. I know this because I know the conditions of this imperfect world. Don't stop with the suffering. Keep moving past and see the hope. Hear the Lord's words to you. Words of love and comfort. That although you suffer, although you hurt, there is much more out there than suffering and pain. There's life! There's perfect and timeless life! This is what Jesus' unjust death and victorious resurrected life gives you!
Is your pain and suffering caused by uncertainty? Be certain that Jesus is for you and will see you through all times! Is it a result of sickness and injury? Jesus brings healing and promises to wipe away every tear! Is it the loss of a loved one that causes you pain? Jesus brings life where once was death! Life in Christ will never end!
Dwell on Good Friday for a time; concentrate and focus on your pain and suffering for a time. But keep moving past to Easter. Move forward to hope. Be grounded in the certain hope of a Lord and Savior who literally gave up His own life because He loves you! If He would go this far for you, what wouldn't He do for you?
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