News from Pastor Hues: Holy Week Edition
News From Pastor Hues: Holy Week Edition
Holy Week is finally here! Lent is now over as we anticipate celebrating the story together. It is our story after all. We will share the foretaste of the feat to come in the Upper Room with Jesus and his disciples. We also, like Judas, leave early to betray him. We will fall asleep in the garden as our Rabbi and dear friend, our Savior, weeps in the darkness alone. We will kiss Jesus on the cheek. We will deny him three times. We will whip him and call for his death. We will grind the crudely fashioned crown of thorns into his scalp. We will nail him to those fateful slabs of wood. We will taunt him in the distance. We will deny even knowing him despite being one of his most trusted disciples. We will morn with Mary at the foot of the cross. We will witness his death. We share in these stories. We share in this historical narrative. We relay these eyewitness accounts as our own.
We will stumble upon him risen in the garden. And just like Doubting Thomas, we will need to see proof that he is indeed risen. We will exclaim in disbelief and wonder, “My Lord and my God.” We will witness our Risen Lord. We play our part in the beauty of this drama during Holy Week by being onlookers and worshipers. Followers and disciples. Believers of God’s promises.
When it comes to Easter, one of the promises I think about is when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11. Martha did not believe that her dead brother could be raised from the dead, in the current life. Immediately and physically. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She saw the power of God revealed in an astonishing fashion right before her eyes. The glory of God was revealed in their midst as Jesus displayed power that conquers death. That not only reanimates the dead but brings new life where death once resided. We get the opportunity to dine, to mourn, and to witness the glory of God revealed in a stunning event that changes everything.
This week anticipates the reality that Jesus is indeed the resurrection and the life. He who comes to take our sin and perish in our place blots out our transgressions. Yes, there is mourning to witness the agony and scandal of the cross, but there is great rejoicing in the fact that his work is finished as he rises again on Easter morn. We worship a death-defying God. But more so than that, he really dies. He is completely dead. Jesus’ body is not reanimated, but rather completely and utterly resurrected. From death to life.
He is The Resurrection and The Life. Come celebrate with us.
News Items: 1. There will be a Soup Supper starting at 6 pm on Maundy Thursday! Please join us!
Volunteers are needed to clean up after Easter Breakfast! Please sign up and let Pastor or Denise know that you’re willing to help! Thanks!
Until Thursday,