by Father Ryan Erlenbush

As the Church prepares to enter into Holy Week, we do well to consider the final week of Jesus’ life, from Friday to Friday. In a later post, we will look at the last twenty-four hours (from the Last Supper to the death of Jesus on the Cross) in greater detail.

It will be helpful to review the Gospel accounts given by Sts. Mark and John, the two who offer the most explicit chronology of Holy Week. See Mark 11:1 – 15:37 and also John 11:54 – 19:30.

The Friday before the Passion

Jesus was in the city of Ephraim, in hiding since the Jewish authorities desired to kill him. On this day (before evening), Jesus and his disciples went up to Jerusalem, before the pasch to purify themselves (John 11:55).

They spent the night in Bethany, which is very close to Jerusalem.

Saturday before the Passion

Jesus therefore, six days before the pasch, came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And they made him a supper there: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him. Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. (John 12:1-3)

The pasch (i.e. Passover) was on a Thursday that year (beginning Thursday eve with the Passover Meal), and so six days before, that is, on Friday, Jesus came to Bethany.

The next day, which is to say, Saturday, Jesus came to the feast there and was anointed by Mary of Bethany (that is, Mary Magdalene [here]). In this first anointing, Mary pours the oil over the Savior’s feet.

This meal and anointing occurred, most probably, at the house of Lazarus known as the Lazarium.

Our Savior spent the night in Bethany.

Palm Sunday

And on the next day, Sunday (John 12:12), Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. This was the first Palm Sunday, when the children of the Hebrews bearing olive branches went forth to meet the Lord, crying out and saying, “Hosanna in the highest!”

Our Lord returned to Bethany for the night.

Monday of Holy Week

On the way into Jerusalem, Jesus sees a fig tree which has born no fruit – which tree he curses in the presence of his disciples.

Upon entering the city, our Lord goes up and cleanses the Temple for the second time (he had cleansed it once already, two years ago – cf. John 2:13ff [see our article, here]).

That eve, Jesus returned to Bethany (cf. Mark 11:19).

Tuesday of Holy Week

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples notice that the fig tree which he had cursed the morning before has now withered. They are amazed.

Entering the Temple area, Jesus preaches extensively and answers the questions of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

It is on this day that our Lord tells the parable of the vineyard workers who kill the owner’s son who is the heir to the vineyard. Also, on this occasion, the Lord answers the questions regarding the tribute to Caesar, the resurrection of the body, the greatest commandment, and whether the Christ will be the son of David.

Further, while in the Temple, our Lord sees a widow offer two small coins and declares her gift to be greater than those of the others.

Finally, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple and speaks of the final judgment.

He returns that night to Bethany.

Spy Wednesday

Now the feast of pasch and of the Azymes [i.e. Unleavened Bread] was after two days [i.e. in two days' time] ... and when [Jesus] was in Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, and was at meal, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard: and breaking the alabaster box, she poured it out upon his head. (Mark 14:1,3)

Spending the day in retirement, our Lord attends a feast at the house of a certain Pharisee, Simon the Leper. During this meal, Mary of Bethany (i.e. the Magdalene [here]) again anoints our Lord, but this time upon his head.

Update: I am aware of the fact that there is a good deal of diversity among the Church Fathers on whether Mary anointed Jesus on Spy Wednesday. I side partially with Origen, Chrysostom, and Theophylus (against Augustine and Gregory) in affirming that there were two anointings, one on Saturday and another on Wednesday; but then agree with Augustine and Gregory (against Origen and Chrysostom) insofar as I claim that there was one and the same woman, Mary of Bethany who is the Magdalene. St. Thomas Aquinas did not come down on one side or the other of the question, so there is clearly room for doubt.

Update II: As I consider this further, I am beginning to lean more toward the side of Sts. Augustine and Gregory. Perhaps there was only one anointing (which would then be on Saturday) and Sts. Matthew and Mark mention it here as a way of connecting the betrayal of Judas more clearly with the incident.

Judas is now set against our Savior, and so goes to the priests to betray Jesus. And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests, to betray him to them. (Mark 14:10)

Because it was this evening that Judas conspired against Jesus, the day is called “Spy Wednesday”.

Holy Thursday

Now on the first day of the unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the pasch, the disciples say to him: Whither wilt thou that we go, and prepare for thee to eat the pasch? (Mark 14:12)

Because the Passover meal would be consumed Thursday evening, Jesus sent his disciples to make the preparations for the pasch. They went from Bethany to Jerusalem and prepared the upper room.

On this evening, Jesus offered the Last Supper in which he instituted both the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Upon finishing the meal, our Lord and his apostles (excepting Judas, who left early) sang a hymn and then went forth to the Mount of Olives.

On this night, our Lord suffered the agony in the garden and was arrested. Jesus spends the night locked in the dungeon of the house of Caiaphas, after undergoing a secret night-trial by the Sanhedrin.

Good Friday

It was on Friday that our Lord suffered and died. Condemned to death at 10am, nailed to the Cross at noon, and dying at 3pm.

Christ was buried before 5pm and, the stone being rolled across the entrance, all departed.

by Monsgr Charles Pope

At the heart of our faith is the Paschal Mystery: the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ. All of salvation history leads up to and goes forth from these saving events. The purpose of this post is to describe Jesus’ Final week. We call this “Holy Week” for Jesus’ public ministry culminates with his suffering, death and resurrection.

What follows is a brief description of each day of Holy Week. It is hoped that you might print out the pdf flyer (Walking-with-Jesus-In-Holy-Week) and read it each day of this week. Prayerfully walk with Jesus in his most difficult and yet glorious week.

I realize that some scripture scholars scoff at the idea that we can construct a day-by-day journal of Jesus’ last week. There are historical gaps and things in the accounts that don’t add up perfectly. Further, St. John, posits a whole different scenario (perhaps as a theological interpretation) of the Last Supper and how it relates to Passover. The following sequence follows primarily the synoptic (Matt, Mark and Luke) accounts, in terms of timing. Despite certain scholarly doubts, the account really do add up pretty well if we use a little imagination and see the differences not as differences in fact, but only in the level detail.

So read this Chronology as a likely but not certain scenario of the the last week of Jesus. It is still a great blessing to consider the Lord’s last week and walk with him.

Plan to attend some or all of the special liturgies of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday and Saturday at your parish. By celebrating them in community, we make them present today and learn again, in a new way, the reality of our Risen Lord alive in our midst.

Palm Sunday:

Our celebration of Holy Week begins this Sunday as we remember and make present the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem to begin his final week and initiate his Passion. All four Gospels recount this triumphant entry that Sunday Morning so long ago, but made present to us today. As you receive your palms, consider that you are part of that vast crowd. How will you journey with Jesus this week? Let the palm remind you to praise him with your prayerful presence during the sacred Triduum. According to Mark 11:11 Jesus returned that evening to Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. Perhaps he stayed with his friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Pray with Jesus this evening as he considers the difficult days ahead of him.

Monday of Holy Week:

According to Matthew 21, Mark 11 and Luke 19, Jesus returns to Jerusalem today and, seeing shameful practices in the Temple area, he cleanses the Temple. John’s Gospel also records that he rebuked the unbelief of the crowds. Mark 11:19 records that he returned to Bethany that night. Pray with Jesus as he is zealous to purify us.

Tuesday of Holy Week:

According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus again returns to Jerusalem where he is confronted by the Temple leadership for what he did yesterday. They question his authority. He also teaches extensively using parables and other forms. There is the parable of the vineyard (cf Mt 21:33-46), the parable of the wedding banquet, (cf Mt. 22:1). There is also the teaching on paying taxes (cf Mt 22:15) and the rebuke of the Sadducees who deny the resurrection (cf Mt. 22:23). There is also the fearful prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem if the inhabitants do not come to faith in him. He warns that not one stone will be left on another (cf Mt 24). Continue to pray with Jesus and listen carefully to his final teachings just before his passion.

Wednesday of Holy Week:

Traditionally this day was called “Spy Wednesday” for it was on this Wednesday before the crucifixion that Judas conspired to hand Jesus over. For this he was paid thirty pieces of silver (cf Mt. 26:14). Jesus likely spent the day In Bethany. In the evening Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus with costly perfumed oil. Judas objects but Jesus rebukes him and says Mary has anointed him for his burial! (cf Mt 26:6). The wicked are besetting Jesus and plotting against him. Are you praying?

Holy Thursday:

This marks the beginning of the sacred Triduum, or “three days.” Earlier this day Jesus had given instructions to the disciples on how to prepare for this most holy meal, which will be his last supper. Through the day they make these preparations (cf Mt 26:17). In the Mass of the Lord’s Supper conducted at our parishes, we remember and make present that Last Supper which Jesus shared with his disciples. We are in the upper room with Jesus and the Apostles and do what they did. Through the ritual of washing the feet (Jn 13:1) of 12 parishioners, we unite in service to one another. Through our celebration of this first Mass and Holy Eucharist (Mt 26:26), we unite ourselves to Jesus and receive his Body and Blood as if for the first time. At this Eucharist, we especially thank God for his gift of the ministerial priesthood. After the Last Supper (First Mass) the apostles and Jesus made a short journey across the Kidron Valley to the Garden where he asks them to pray and he experiences his agony (cf Mt 26:30). We too will process in Church with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to a garden (the altar of repose) which has been prepared. The liturgy ends in silence. It is an ancient custom to spend an hour before the reposed Blessed Sacrament tonight. We are with Jesus in the Garden and pray as he goes through his agony. Most of our parish churches remain open until close to midnight. It was near Midnight that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, was arrested and taken to the house of the High Priest (cf Mt. 26:47).

Good Friday:

All through the night Jesus has been locked in the dungeon of the high priest’s house. Early this morning he was bought before a Pilate who transferred his case to Herod. Herod sent him back to Pilate who, sometime in the mid-morning, bowed to the pressure of the Temple leadership and the crowds, and condemned Jesus to a horrible death by crucifixion. In the late morning Jesus was taken by the soldiers through the city and up the hillside of Golgotha. By noon he is nailed to the cross where he hangs in agony for some three hours. He dies around three in the afternoon. He is taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb hastily before sundown. Today is a day of prayer, fasting and abstinence. Whenever possible, Christians are urged to keep today free of work, of social engagements, of entertainment, and to devote themselves to communal prayer and worship. At noon many parishes gather for stations of the cross for recollections of the seven last words of Jesus. Many parishes also offer staions of the cross at 3pm the hour of Jesus death. In the evening, we gather quietly in our parish Churches to enter into time of prayer as we reflect on Jesus death on the cross. We also pray for the needs of the world. To acknowledge the power of the cross in our lives today, we one by one come forward to venerate the cross with a kiss. Our hunger from this day of fasting is satisfied with Holy Communion distributed at the end of this liturgy.Consider too how the apostles might have gathered that night together in fear and prayer reflecting on all that happened.

Holy Saturday:

The body of Jesus is in the tomb but His soul is among the dead to announce the kingdom. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will Live (John 5:25). Consider what it must have been like for the dead in Sheol to awaken to the voice of Jesus! Meanwhile The Disciples, heartbroken at the death of Jesus, observed the Jewish Sabbath in sorrow. They had forgotten the promise of Jesus that He would rise. We cannot forget His promise. We cannot forget. Tonight in our parishes after sundown we gather for the Great Easter Vigil where we will experience Jesus rising from the dead. We gather in darkness and light the Easter fire which reminds us that Jesus is light in the darkness. He is the light of the world. We enter into the church and attentively listen to Bible stories describing God’s saving work of the past. Suddenly, the church lights are lit and the Gloria is sung as we celebrate the moment of Christ’s resurrection. He Lives! In the joy of the resurrection we then celebrate the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist for our Catechumens and Candidates who have prepared for many weeks for this night. As a Church we sing Alleluia for the first time in forty days. Do everything you can to be present on this evening and invite friends and family to join. Our Vigil ushers in an Easter joy that never ends!

About The Author:

Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, DC. He attended Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary and holds Masters degrees in Divinity and in Moral Theology. He was ordained in 1989 and named a Monsignor in 2005. He has conducted a weekly Bible Study in Congress and in the White House, for two and four years, respectively.

by Debbie McDaniel

This week is the most significant celebration of the year for believers all around the world. It's Holy Week, the time for remembering Christ's journey to the cross, the celebration of his Resurrection, and the gift of new life. The reality is - we have incredibly much to be grateful for.

And the enemy knows that. So you can bet he's going to do everything he can to try and distract us away from the true meaning of what this week means. But we don't have to let him win. We have a choice in whose voice we follow.

God desires that we press in close to him, so close that we can hear his heartbeat, know his voice, and feel the peace of his presence surrounding us. Yet it's often a struggle. Many other things, even good things, can call us away from the most important. Sometimes in the midst of busy lives and the Easter craze, the real significance of the week may get missed. Or we find ourselves constantly distracted, forgetting Who and what we're even celebrating.

Three things to remember as we journey through this Holy Week:

1. There will be distractions.

Life can be full of distractions, on any given day, but yet this week in particular, the enemy would love nothing more than to pull us away from the most important. He is a deceiver and twister of truth, and if we're not careful, we may step right into his plans. Here's a few ways he may try to lure us:

Through busyness - If he can't tempt us to fall, he would be happy to just keep us busy. So busy that we forget about God. It's easy to get caught up in the moment of it all, the busy rush of the week, activity madness, wheels spinning all directions.

Yet, God's voice cuts through all the busy, calling us to peace (Luke 10:38-42).

By distractions of other things - Distractions surround us in this high tech world, as we're constantly wired to electronic devices and news events. Life swirls around us. The enemy has a myriad of ways to try to lure us away from what matters most.

God offers wisdom in keeping our priorities in order and staying focused on the most important (Colossians 3:2).

Creating disunity among one another - He's done it since the beginning of time, stirring up trouble, causing hurt feelings, creating division. Don't fall for it.

Stand strong in your love for Christ and one another. Let the love of Christ richly dwell within you. He calls us to do all we can to walk in unity and love (Ephesians 5:2).

Overly focusing on oneself - If he can't divide us in relationships, he'll taunt us with our own problems. He loves us to focus on the negative and sink right into his deep pit. He'll remind us of our past and try to drag us down with whispered lies.

But here's the good news - we have the power of Christ dwelling within us. We do not have to listen or give way to his defeat, he holds no power over us. God has set us free, his truth is the one we can trust. He reminds us that he covers our past, he's with us in the present, and he holds our future in his hands (Romans 8:1).

Temptations - Satan's traps are always before us, he knows our weaknesses and would love nothing more than to see us stumble and fall. You can be sure he's working overtime, especially during this Holy Week, for he is directly opposed to the truth, forgiveness, and redemption that the Resurrection of Christ offers.

Stay aware, walk strong, God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure. He will faithfully guide us in all of his ways if we're listening to his voice (1 Corinthians 10:13).

2. Focus on the most important.

This can be a balancing act, for sometimes it's easy to veer off track. We love celebrating the Easter week in fun ways - parties, decorating, spring flowers, and one of my personal favorites - chocolate.

But like many of you, we know at the core of it all, those things are not the most important. If all of the fluff and stuff are stripped away, there remains the amazing story of Christ, who never changes. His is the real story at the center of all. He is the celebration at the very core of this holiday. Without him, we have nothing. He is what it's all about. And though we may know this in our heads, the hours of how we live through our week might tell a different story. It's a choice each day, to focus in, on the true meaning. How can we do this?

• By opening up his Word, reading, meditating, especially about the story of Christ's journey towards the cross and the Resurrection. All 4 Gospels give an account. Dig deep, ask questions, seek to learn all he has to say to your heart.
   
• By spending moments with him in prayer.
   
• By taking time to be quiet and still before him, just listening for his voice.
   
• By reflecting, remembering, thanking him for his gift of sacrifice made on our behalf.
   
• By praising God for the power of the Resurrection of Christ, for the promise of new life.
   
• By celebrating together with other believers.

"He must increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

"...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death..." (Philippians 3:10).

3. He gives us beauty for ashes.

Those ashes that marked the foreheads of millions of believers on Ash Wednesday held a reminder for us. We are but dust (Genesis 3:19). Yet his story reminds us of more - we are redeemed. We have been given new life, an open door, through Jesus Christ.

The ashes are a clear picture of the frailty of human existence. And though many times we may somehow think we're invincible in this life, or even led to believe that we are not "needy" of a Savior, when hit with life's struggles or face to face with painful events, we quickly remember, we need help. We are weak, and need One who is strong. We need a Savior.

We have One, who also was broken, in ways we could never fully comprehend, yet he remained strong, and chose to endure it all - for us.

He extends grace to remind us we don't have to stay stuck in our struggle and pain. He holds good in store through it all, able to bring greater purpose, greater beauty, greater strength. He never intends for us to remain in the pit of our despair. For he breathes fresh life.

God brought beauty out of the brokenness of the cross, he gives beauty for our ashes. His sacrifice offers forgiveness for our sin. The power of the Resurrection gives hope for our future.

He will…"provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…" (Isaiah 61:3).

Adorned in robes of righteousness…ashes traded for beauty…mourning giving way to joy…despair replaced by praise.

There's such power there.

Grace. Love. Freedom. The focus of this Holy Week.

"Behold, I am making all things new…" (Revelation 21:5).

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)

About The Author:

By Debbie McDaniel

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter that begins the Holy Week. It is the day that we remember and celebrate the day Jesus entered into Jerusalem as Savior and King. As Jesus rode a donkey into the town of Jerusalem a large crowd gathered and laid palm branches and their cloaks across the road, giving Jesus royal treatment. The hundreds of people shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Matthew 21:1-11 - Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Begins His Journey toward the Cross

On the heels of Palm Sunday, as we begin this Holy Week, may we constantly be reminded of its significance and value for our lives today. That very important day in history, when Jesus began His journey towards the cross.

Yet maybe in the midst of busy lives, on the heels of Spring Break, or in all of the upcoming thoughts about Easter, the real meaning of it may, even unintentionally, get missed.

His Word reveals such great truths in every part of this story. Truths that draw us closer towards Christ, reminding us that He alone is King...

5 Powerful Ways Palm Sunday Reminds Us that Jesus is the King of Kings

1. The Palm Branch as Victory

God's Word tells us the people cut palm branches and waved them in the air, laid them out on the ground before Jesus as He rode into the city. The palm branch represented goodness and victory and was symbolic of the final victory He would soon fulfill over death.

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Cor. 15:55

2. The Donkey as Peace

Jesus chose to ride in on a donkey, which directly fulfilled Old Testament prophecy of Zech. 9:9. In Biblical times, it was common for kings or important people to arrive by a procession riding on a donkey. The donkey symbolized peace, so those who chose to ride them showed that they came with peaceful intentions. Jesus even then reminded us that He is the Prince of Peace.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Zech. 9:9

3. Christ the King and Savior

When the people shouted "Hosanna!" they were hailing Christ as King. That word actually means "save now," and though in their own minds they waited for an earthly king, God had a different way in mind of bringing true salvation to all who would trust in Him.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!" Ps. 118:26

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Rom. 10:9

4. The Sacrifice for Salvation

The Bible says that Jesus wept for Jerusalem. In the midst of the praise of the moment, He knew in His heart that it wouldn't be long that these same people would turn their backs on Him, betray Him, and crucify Him. His heart broke with the reality of how much they needed a Savior.

"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes." Luke 19:41-42

5. Christ the Conquering King

Palm Sunday reminds us that the reign of Christ is far greater than any the mind of man could ever conceive or plan. Man looked for someone to fight their battles in the present day world. Yet God had the ultimate plan of sending His Son to fight the final battle over death. This is the greatness of why we celebrate this week. Because of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, we can be set free of death.

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,'"John 11:25

A Thought for Holy Week

We have so much to be grateful for this week.

The enemy knows that, and you can bet, he's going to do everything he can to try and distract us away from the true meaning of what this Holy Week means. Don't let him win.

In this Holy Week, may God direct our thoughts and attention towards what matters most, Jesus Christ our King...

Let's choose to focus on worshipping our Lord, thanking Him for the gift of His sacrifice, celebrating the power of the Resurrection, and the new life found in Him alone.
Grace.

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Cor. 9:15

Palm Sunday Bible Verses

Zechariah 9:9 - Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

by Msgr. Charles Pope

A moment occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane that presents a very good stance for Holy Week, indeed for the whole of our life: Jesus was at prayer; He returned to find His disciples asleep and said,

Watch and pray so that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41).

Let’s examine the passage and explore what it has to say about us and to us.

I. Problem

Jesus comes to His disciples and finds them sleeping. A great showdown between light and darkness, good and evil, Satan and the Lord, is about to unfold—is unfolding! But the disciples, the first leaders of the Church, are sleeping at this crucial moment in human history. Disgracefully, things have not changed since that time.

Yes, this is too often still the case. And lest you think that I am singling out popes, bishops, priests, and deacons alone, let me be clear in saying that the phrase “leaders of the Church” includes parents and community elders as well.

We in the clergy too often remain sleepy and quiet while our people are undergoing severe trials and exposure to terrible sin and error. Well does the Scripture describe many of us clergy when it says, Israel’s watchman are blind, the lack knowledge; they are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep (Is 56:10).

But many parents, the leaders of the domestic Church, are also woefully out of touch with the struggles of their children. They have little idea what their children are actually listening to or watching; they seem to have higher priorities than monitoring their children and teaching them with clarity.

Yes, for all of us Church leaders, at the parish level and at the domestic level, we too easily doze off and dream away, seemingly unaware of the great cosmic battle that is going on all around us, claiming our people and our children.

Or perhaps we do have some sense of the awful battle, but don’t know what to do about it. Overwhelmed and stressed out, we medicate ourselves. Perhaps like the disciples we drink some wine and doze off in the garden while the critical battle unfolds around us. Overwhelmed, we tune out. We veer off to diversions, watch fantasies on television, or lose ourselves in virtual Internet “relationships” while our real relationships languish. Reality is too painful, so we medicate ourselves and go off to sleep, a spiritual sleep, a moral sleep, even a physical sleep.

Only the pure mercy of God can save us. If the Church or the world depended on human leaders we’d be doomed. If the Church were solely dependent on human beings to keep her together, she would’ve lasted 20 minutes, at best! Yes, only the pure mercy of God can see us through. Without Jesus, awake and sober in the garden, we’re surely lost.

Yes, a serious problem is described here: while the cosmic battle between good and evil rages around us, too many of us are asleep. And while God’s mercy can help to close the gap, we must be willing to do what Jesus commands, what He now prescribes.

II. Prescription

Jesus says, Watch and pray! That is to say, “Wake up; come to your right mind; be sober!” To be sober is to have a clear mind, a mind that is aware of what is going on, and that can clearly identify the signs of the times. The sober mind is able to identify the tactics of the enemy, the drives of sin, and know their moves. The sober mind is also in touch with the remedies of grace and how to apply them prudently. We simply must watch and pray!

In particular, our prayer needs to be rooted in the Scriptures and the revealed truth of Jesus Christ. There’s just too much “stinking thinking” in our world today to believe that our mind is going to be anything but polluted if we don’t cleanse it every day with the Word of God.

Our minds are like sponges. Put a sponge in muddy water and the sponge is going to come out muddy. How then is the muddy sponge to be cleansed? It is plunged into clean water and rung out; then it is plunged back into the clean water and rung out again and again and again. Similarly, our minds—like sponges muddied by the polluted, confusing, and erroneous thinking of the world—must be cleansed daily by being plunged into the clear, clean water of God’s Holy Word.

It is a sobering fact that if we are not praying daily and being deeply rooted in God’s Word, it is very unlikely that we will make it.

The Lord’s prescription is bluntly simple: wake up and keep watch by praying! We somehow seem to find time for everything else. It’s time to wake up and keep our eyes focused on the Lord, to watch Him, to listen to Him, and to be deeply rooted in the relationship of prayer and obedience to His Word. Otherwise, a terrible peril is upon us.

III. Peril

We are told to watch and pray lest we undergo the test, lest we give way to temptation. The Greek word for temptation use here is πειρασμόν (peirasmon), which almost sounds like the English word “peril.”

Now don’t let temptation become something abstract. Temptation is the work of Satan to drag you to Hell. Are you clear on that? If you’re not watching and praying, you’re defenseless; you’re an easy target; you’re low hanging fruit; you’re probably not going to make it. If you do not pray, Jesus warns that you will give way to temptation. That is, Satan will be able to drag you off to Hell and probably others along with you.

If you don’t even care enough about yourself to pray, then at least do it for the sake of others, who are probably depending on you for teaching and example! No priest goes to Hell alone; he takes others with him. And no parents go to Hell alone; they take others with them.

It’s time to wake up and recognize the peril. You will give way to temptation if you won’t watch and pray. Satan can and will drive you to Hell. This peril is real. If you don’t think so, take it up with Jesus; He said it, I didn’t.

IV. Prevailing priority

Jesus goes on to say, The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

Sadly, most of us interpret this passage as an excuse, as if Jesus were permitting us to say, “Well, deep in my heart I want to do what’s right, but I’m really not able to do it because of my weak flesh. So it’s really not my fault. I should get credit for having good intentions in my heart.”

This is not only an incorrect interpretation of what Jesus says here; it is a sinful interpretation. Jesus is not saying that our flesh excuses us. He’s saying that our spirit is willing, that our Spirit (by His grace) has the capacity to prevail over the weakness of the flesh!

We are going to have to battle against our flesh; that is true; that much is clear. But our spirit, the part of us that is open to God, has the capacity to prevail, if we will permit God’s Holy Spirit to strengthen our human spirit.

In other words, our spirit is to be our number one priority, over and against our flesh. With this as our first priority, we will open our spirit to God’s Holy Spirit and will be strengthened. We will prevail over temptation. We will be victorious over Satan’s attempts to drag us to Hell.

There should be no excuses here. Jesus says that although the flesh is weak, and we’ll battle against it until the day we die, our spirit can “will” us to overcome the drives of our flesh. Our spirit can and must have a priority that will empower us to prevail over the flesh and over any incursions of the evil one.

We must make a decision; our spirit must be willing to watch and pray. We cannot allow the emphasis to fall on the weakness of the flesh. The emphasis must always be on the prevailing power and priority of the human spirit, graced by God’s Holy Spirit, to win the victory.

by Dr. Michael A. Milton

The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is one of ancient history’s most proven events. The fact has been substantiated by theologian and historian alike. It has been written without hyperbole.

“Even those scholars and critics who have been moved to depart from almost everything else within the historical content of Christ’s presence on earth have found it impossible to think away the factuality of the death of Christ.” -John McIntyre, 'The Uses of History in Theology'

An example of this statement is the affirmation of Dr. Bart Erhrman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While critical of the New Testament in many instances and denying the supernatural essence of Christianity, the noted secular scholar affirmed this in his 'The Historical Jesus: Lecture Transcript and Course Guidebook, Vol. 2:'

“One of the most certain facts of history is that Jesus was crucified on orders of the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontus Pilate.”

The four Gospels assert this pivotal landmark in redemptive history. Secular authorities of the day confirmed it. The Early Church affirmed it. Millions and millions believe it. But where did the crucifixion happen? The answer to that question is closely related to God’s will and God’s ways. To put it simply, the location of the crucifixion of the Jesus is both known and unknown.<

What We Know about the Location of the Crucifixion

The Gospels affirm that Christ was crucified outside of the gates of the city of Jerusalem. Both John and the writer to the Hebrews affirm this fact:

“Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin” (John 19:20, NKJV).

“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Hebrews 13:12, NKJV).

The Bible also confirms that the crucifixion was carried out by officials of the Rome Empire in confederation with Jewish rabbinical leaders, the Sanhedrin. The presence of Roman military personnel point to the military nature of the mission and the significance of the execution to both locals and, due to local pressure, the Roman provincial government (recommended book: Jesus: A New Vision). We know that one could see the Roman execution on the cross from a great distance. For we read,

“There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.” -Mark 15:40<

Most significantly, we know the name of the place where Jesus was crucified. C. W. Wilson writes, “It is clear . . . that Christ was crucified at a known spot, with a distinctive name . . .” For after being humiliated and harassed by carrying his cross through the crowded streets of angry onlookers, leading to the execution site, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified at “a place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of the skull” (Matthew 27:33 ESV). Golgotha “is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic Gulgulta, which corresponds to the Hebrew Gulgoleth,” according to Wilson. The Greek equivalent is kranion (from which the English word, cranial, is derived). It is Dr. Luke who uses the Latin word, calvaria. The English transliteration is the well-known designation, Calvary. The actual translation into English would be “skull or cranium” (Carl Hensley, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible).

The Jewish Wars of Rebellion (A.D. 66-73) that witnessed the A.D. 70-71 destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by Titus (A.D. 39-81), undoubtedly added to the digression of local terrain (Lawrence Schiffman, From Text to Tradition). Finally, the noted church historian of antiquity, Eusibius, journeyed to Jerusalem to discover the site of the Lord’s crucifixion. The great church father and scholar went there with Queen Helena (A.D. 246-330), the Roman Empress and mother of Constantine the Great (A.D. 272-337). The local Jerusalem Christians led Eusibius and Helena to a site outside of the gates of the old city (the walls were enlarged in the sixteenth century), a site where liturgical celebrations had been held until “A.D. 66” (Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land). The landscape went through significant changes when Hadrian (A.D. 36-138), in 135, built temples to Roman deities, including Aphrodite and Jupiter, in the Aelia Capitolina (the new Roman name that Hadrian gave for Jerusalem).

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor states, “Despite the evidence of Jerome and certain late Byzantine texts the Holy Sepulcher remains the most probable site of the Capitoline temple.” And that is a remarkable statement. For in A.D. 326, Helena’s son, Constantine began construction on a Christian edifice, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which would enclose both Golgotha, the place of crucifixion, and Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, the burial place and the site of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Murphy-O’Connor, in the Oxford Archeological Guide from the Earliest times to 1700, summarized both the history and archeology of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the alternative possibilities and concluded, “Is this the place where Christ died and was buried? Yes, very probably.”

What We Don’t Know about the Location of the Crucifixion

In answer to the question above, and despite the unequivocal assertions of some, we must reply, “plenty.” We know what we don’t know, and we are certain that we don’t know what we don’t know. Let’s take just the clear biblical claim that our Lord was crucified at Golgotha. While we know what the word, Golgotha, or Calvary, means (i.e., “skull”), we don’t know whether it is referring to one of three origins to the name.

Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, Might Refer to the Legendary Place of Adam’s Skull

Yes, that’s right. The Church Father, Origen (A.D. 185-253), both a Hebrew scholar and a resident of Jerusalem, relates Golgotha to the place where Adam’s skull was believed to be buried. If you think Origen is a little “off,” one might challenge your view by pointing to other leaders of the Early Church who believed that Jesus was crucified in the field of Adam’s burial. This number would include the respected Athanasius (A.D. 296-373), Epiphanies (A.D. 312-403) and Basil of Caesarea (A.D. 329-379).<

The second view of Golgotha is more logical, but still differs from the majority view:<

Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, Might Refer to the Place of Roman Executions

In this scenario, the place where our Lord was crucified was a common “killing field” for rebels and criminals hostile to Roman occupation. Thus, the area was littered with skulls of “condemned criminals” (Wilson, Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre). Once the flesh was gone from the skull and skeleton, the family members would bury the remains. No less than the preeminent Christian scholar and Bible translator, Jerome (A.D. 347-420), and the English historian and monk, Venerable Bede (A.D. 673-735), held to this position. There is a famous burial ground in London called “Bunhill Fields” (Alfred Light, Bunhill Fields). That word “Bunhill” is a colloquial pronunciation of “Bone Hill.” Nonconformist ministers and others outside of the pale of the Church of England were buried there. This second view of Calvary purports that the hill where Christ was crucified was, also, a “Bunhill Fields.”

Now. The third view is likely the one that you have heard.

Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, Might Refer to a Geological Formation Resembling a Skull

This understanding has remained the most popular view of the place of Golgotha since at least the eighteenth century. Some have, thus, written of Golgotha as a bald hill top, a rock formation that resembles a human skull. Yet, we must remember that there are no references to this in the Bible. Yes, it was an elevated place that could be seen, but it is not called Mount Calvary by any Biblical writers, nor any Greek, Jewish, or Roman observers. It appears to be a late Western notion (Wilson, Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre).

Now, all of this might be somewhat upsetting to some who have believed one or the other concepts about Golgotha. Moreover, the controversy underscores the reality: we really are only sure about what the Bible says. And is that enough?

We Know All We Need to Know

The Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross between two thieves, one repentant and one not. The Bible also tells us who crucified Christ: a conspiracy of Roman officials and Jewish religious leaders. In other words, Gentile and Jew alike were represented in the cosmic crime of deicide (“the murder of God by Man”). We know that the cross could be seen from a long way. We know that there were women there, including the mother of Jesus. We know that the Apostle John was there. We know that many deserted our Lord Jesus Christ in his greatest hour of need. But there is much more that we don’t know. It is as if the Holy Spirit has placed a permanent veil over the scene. We must remember that the deed was so awful that the earth quaked in repulsion and darkness descended upon the awful scene, as if Creation itself could not bear the visage. But as to the precise location where Jesus Christ was crucified, we cannot be certain. It may very well be that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher covers the site of Calvary and the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where our Lord was raised from the dead.

So, there are some things that we know from Scripture. And there is enough archaeological evidence and ancient literature to substantiate Christ’s crucifixion and to suggest a location. And there is much that we do not know. We remember the warning from Deuteronomy 29:29:

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”<

But this we know: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for us at a place called Calvary. It was there that the Creator of the world was crucified by those whom he had created. he died for our sins and fulfilled the Covenant of Works (“if you disobey you shall die”). He took the wrath of God upon his sinless soul and met all of the demands of the Law for all who would receive him (The Covenant of Grace). Jesus Christ was crucified upon the roughhewn timber from a forest that he made, with nails fashioned from iron that he created. And yet in that location Jesus looked down upon those who crucified him and unjustly spit upon him and sought to humiliate him, and said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 KJV).

There is a narrative in the life of our Lord that is important to us in our study. In the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36), Moses and Elijah appear to Peter, James, and John to attest to the divinity of Jesus. This is a powerful theological touchpoint in redemptive history. For in that glorious moment, the “Law and the Prophets” affirm the Person of Jesus as the One they wrote of; the Old Covenant yields to the New; the ancient prophecies were fulfilled; Christ’s identity is fully revealed to the disciples and supernaturally confirmed; eternity touches time; and heaven comes down (once more) to earth. It was a resplendent scene to be sure. Peter wanted to erect three tents to commemorate the event (perhaps, to return to the tent markers and build a greater temple). Our Lord Jesus told Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration that he should not build (as Peter wished to do) any sacred edifice to mark the physical place of that great gathering.

The Lord also told the Samaritan woman at the well, in John 4:21-23, that from now on believers must worship God “in spirit and in truth,” not on this mountain nor on that mountain. It’s not about a place. It’s about a Person. It’s not about the physical any longer—land, temples, altars. It is about the eternal. It’s not about the signs. It’s about the Savior.

And maybe that is why we know enough about the location of his crucifixion, but we don’t know everything. It is by faith that we look upon that old rugged cross to see its best location: This cross is the place where a “Great Exchange” took place. For Jesus assumed the punishment for the sins of all of those who would call upon him in repentance and faith; and it is the place where the holiness of Christ was granted to sinners like me. Or, as I used to tell our church’s children in Confirmation Class, “At Calvary’s cross, Jesus took your sin. You received his perfect life.”

This Easter, and in every season of our lives, the precise place where Jesus was crucified for you and me is that place where we turn to Him in brokenness and in love. It is that place where by faith we join Mary and John and the Roman centurion who confessed, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). That soldier knew. And you can know, too. Where was Christ crucified? Jesus Christ was crucified at the crossroad of God’s love and your brokenness. Of that you may be certain.

About The Author:

Michael A. Milton, PhD (University of Wales; MPA, UNC Chapel Hill; MDiv, Knox Seminary), Dr. Milton is a retired seminary chancellor and currently serves as the James Ragsdale Chair of Missions at Erskine Theological Seminary. He is the President of Faith for Living and the D. James Kennedy Institute a long-time Presbyterian minister, and Chaplain (Colonel) USA-R. Dr. Milton is the author of more than thirty books and a musician with five albums released. Mike and his wife, Mae, reside in North Carolina.

References

Armstrong, Chris. “Divvying up the Most Sacred Place.” ChristianityToday.Com. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/julyweb-only/7-29-52.0.html.

Borg, Marcus J. Jesus: A New Vision. HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Ehrman, B. D. “The Historical Jesus: Lecture Transcript and Course Guidebook, Vol. 2.” The Teaching Company, Chantilly (2000).

Eusebius of Caesarea. “Onomasticon (1971) Translation by C. Umhau Wolf.” Last modified Original c 330AD. Accessed April 8, 2019. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_onomasticon_02_trans.htm#G_THE_GOSPELS.

Ignatius of Antioch. “St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans (Roberts-Donaldson Translation).” Last modified 110AD. Accessed April 8, 2019. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-roberts.html.

Light, Alfred W. Bunhill Fields: Written in Honour and to the Memory of the Many Saints of God Whose Bodies Rest in This Old London Cemetery. Vol. 1. CJ Farncombe & Sons, Limited, 1915.

McIntyre, John. “The Uses of History in Theology (In Honour of A.C. Cheyne).” Studies in World Christianity 7, no. 1 (April 1, 2001): 1–20. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/swc.2001.7.1.1.

Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome. “The Location of the Capitol in Aelia Capitolina.” Revue Biblique (1946-) 101, no. 3 (1994): 407–415. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44089200.

Sandy Grant. “Crucifixion Historicity.” The Briefing, May 24, 2013. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2013/05/crucifixion-historicity/.

Schiffman, Lawrence H. From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1991.

Wilson, C. W. Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre: Edited by Colonel Sir C. M. Watson. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1906. https://books.google.com/books?id=ti4yAQAAMAAJ.

Wolf, Carl Umhau. “Eusebius of Caesarea and the Onomasticon.” The Biblical Archaeologist 27, no. 3 (1964): 66–96. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3211009.

by Dr. Kelly Flanagan

"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?"
- Matthew 27:46

Quinn holds out his hand to show me his thumbnail. Or lack thereof. The end of it has been ripped clean off. He says he hit it on the jungle gym while playing tag at recess. A day earlier, his nose had been bloodied when his face lost a battle with a kid's head on the same playground. And a week earlier he had told me the top of his head was bruised after he flew headlong into one of the slides on the playground. I look at him incredulously and say, "Dude, you're taking a beating on the playground." He frowns, shakes his head, and says, "Yeah, I guess it's not meant for me."

I guess it's not meant for me.

This is what we do. When we start to take some hits on the playground of life, we assume we're on the wrong playground or we simply shouldn't be playing at all. We human beings tend to treat our circumstances like divining rods, using good fortune and hardship to determine if we're on the right path and in good favor with the powers - or the Power - that be. When things are breaking bad, we interpret our misfortune and disappointment as a cosmic course correction. When things are going well, we believe our choices have received a divine stamp of approval. Either way, it's comforting to feel like we have a heavenly tour guide.

Of course, sometimes we're not meant to do the thing we're trying to do. For example, when I was cut from the middle school choral ensemble, I decided singing wasn't for me. Twenty years later, when my kids began asking me to either sing their lullabies "like Momma does" or not to sing them at all, because it was hurting their ears, I realized the wisdom of my middle school decision.

And it's equally true that when we're courageously stepping through our fears and into our passions, the universe often seems to open up for us. Tumblers fall into place, doors swing wide, and warm winds fill our sails day after smooth-sailing day. We seem to have fallen into lockstep with a purpose or a plan more ancient than time itself.

Yet, whenever we pursue a passion that is an authentic expression of our true self, we will also experience misfortune, disappointment, hardship, and pain. Because when we're pursuing our passions, our souls are out there, exposed, vulnerable. There's no way to practice a passion without leaving ourselves wide open for wounding. Like Quinn on the playground, we will get bruised, bloody, and beat up. So, if you're going to step into your passion, it's probably a good idea to take a big box of Band-Aids into it with you.

Instead, we tend to take our divining rods into it.

For instance, when I was nearing the end of graduate school, I was in a church small group full of other young and ambitious students, and as the time approached for graduation, the divining rods came out: "I can't find an apartment in Philly; God must not want me there." Or "I didn't get the internship; maybe God doesn't want me to be a chemist." Of course, it all boiled down to this: I'm getting banged up on this here playground, so I guess it's not meant for me.

This subtle belief is a big reason so many passions aren't lived out. And it's why there was no crowd at the foot of the cross

-------

In the story central to my faith, Jesus begins the final week of His life with a triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. The crowds turn out en masse. He looks like a man who is doing all the right things and making all the right moves. He has no bruises on His head, no bloody nose, no broken thumbnail. To the crowd, it looks like God is on His side, and He looks like the savior they've been waiting for - the one who will lead the revolution to free Israel from the grip of the Roman Empire. It looks like He's found His messianic purpose.

So they lay palm leaves at His feet and cheer wildly. Yet before they have a chance to catch their breath, His good fortune goes bad. Instead of being celebrated by the Jewish authorities, He comes into conflict with them. A major bruise to the head. Then one of His disciples betrays Him, and He's arrested. A bloody nose on the messianic playground. Then He's beaten and brutalized and hung upon a cross - the ultimate torture and shame in His culture. It makes a bloody thumbnail look like, well, child's play.

In the span of a week, He's gone from having an obvious stamp of divine approval to being banged up and beaten, a sign to the crowds of divine rejection. You see, pursuing our passions makes no sense to a world that still believes the path of passion is paved only with good fortune and signs of divine blessing. It makes no sense to people who still believe hardship is a consequence for making the wrong decision or choosing the wrong path. So the crowds look at Jesus and decide it wasn't meant to be.

And they go away.

Even Jesus, as He hangs on the cross, in a moment of excruciating solidarity with all our suffering humanity, experiences His pain as abandonment when He looks up and cries out, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?

The third act of a story contains the climactic moment of the story. It is the moment on which the protagonist's story hinges - will the character we have come to love finally succumb to the conflict, or resolve it? In the third act of life, it's the moment when our dedication to the passions we're living is tested, and we have a choice: we can go back, or we can call back, "I'm all in. This is what I'm here to do, and I'll do it until I can't do it anymore."

In these pages, I've described passion as "an extravagant fondness." However, the word passion was originally derived from a Latin root meaning "to suffer." What if both are true at the same time? What if a passion is something we are so extravagantly fond of doing - so central to who we are - that we would also choose to suffer for it, if necessary? The climactic moment in the third act of life is the moment you realize you've truly found your purpose, because you've found a passion you refuse to give up on even if the crowd gives up on you.

I used to assume resurrection was the climactic moment of the Jesus story. Now, though, I think the climax of His story was the moment of His greatest despair. I imagine Jesus looking up and crying out to God, who seems to have abandoned Him, and then I imagine Him looking down and locking eyes with the only three people who remained at the foot of the Cross - His mother, a friend, and a follower. I imagine Him looking into the eyes of the people He belonged to - the people who still believed in Him even when things looked bleakest - and finding there the strength to carry on. In our climactic moment, our people go beyond simply pointing us toward our passion - they become compassion, a word meaning, literally, "to suffer with." The people we belong to are the ones who choose to remain with us as we choose to suffer for the thing we're here to do.

The story of Jesus' cross is an extraordinary one - some have called it the greatest story ever told. The crosses we choose to suffer tend to be much more ordinary.

--------

I decided a while back that, among other things, I'm on this planet to write a book. I decided it was my passion, and I decided to suffer for it, if necessary. In that sense, I suppose, it is a cross I have chosen to carry. And it's tempting to think the publication of it will be the climactic moment in this particular third act of my life. But when I think about Jesus hanging on the cross, crying out in despair and then looking down into the eyes of the three who remained - His mother, Mary Magdalene, and John - I realize my climactic moment happened months ago.

After writing and trashing more than two hundred thousand words over the course of almost two years, I found thirteen thousand words that worked for a book proposal. When my agent first approached several publishing houses and they saw the volume of my blog traffic, many were eager to see the proposal.

But then we sent the actual proposal, and the many quickly dispersed.

It was "too spiritual" for some and "not Christian enough" for others. Some wanted only a book of letters to my kids, while others wanted a book about marriage. Most didn't think I had the credentials to write about passion and purpose. Nobody thought they could bank on it. They wanted me to write a completely different book.

In that moment, I wanted to quit - bruised head, bleeding nose, broken thumbnail - because I thought this author playground wasn't meant for me. I thought maybe I was supposed to be doing something else, and I wanted that something else to feel less like death and more like resurrection. But then, at the foot of the cross-passion I had chosen, my faithful agent said she wouldn't let me write anything else, because she believed in it too much. I looked into the eyes of my wife, and she said the same thing. And this whole lovely cloud of witnesses around the world, who read my blog every week, kept letting me know they weren't going anywhere. Suddenly, the presence of those who remained mattered more than the opinion of the dwindling crowd.

I got back on the playground and decided to keep playing. To keep writing.

I hope you will too. I hope you'll pick up your cross-passion and carry it. Not necessarily because it will lead to resurrection, but because the sacrifice alone is worth it. After all, sacrifice isn't the way to Heaven; sacrifice is the way of Heaven. It's where your commitment to the thing you're here to do will be tested and refined, where your circles of belonging will be proven steadfast, and where you'll learn all over again: you are worthy, whether you wind up leading a revolution, or simply returning to the playground, Band-Aids and all, for a little more play.

Because it is meant for you.

Excerpted with permission from Loveable by Kelly Flanagan, copyright Kelly Flanagan.

Your Turn

by Dr. Ray Pritchard

Scripture: John 18:25-27

There are some sounds that we do not hear very often. One of them is the sound of a rooster crowing. In Chicago, you can hear almost anything, but you would probably have to go to a zoo to hear a rooster crowing. We have all the sounds that go with modern life—automobiles and buses, trains and trucks, sirens and whistles galore. In the crowded city you can hear kids yelling and music blaring, cash registers ringing and planes roaring overhead. But you will hardly ever hear a rooster crowing.

You have to go out of the city to hear that. Somewhere west or south of here. Somewhere out in farm country. Somewhere not as crowded or as frantic as Chicago.

If we heard a rooster crowing tomorrow morning at sunrise, we would hardly know what to do. Roosters don’t belong in the city. Everyone knows that. They belong out in the country where they can sound forth just before dawn and wake the sleepers with the news that a new day has come.

God made roosters for that reason. To serve as trumpets of the morning. To signal that a new day has come. To rouse the sleepers from their beds. To remind the kids to get up and milk the cows.

An Unforgettable Sound

Peter knew all about roosters. After all, you couldn’t live in a rural area like Galilee and not get used to the daily singing of the rooster chorus. He had heard roosters crowing since the day he was born. The sound was as familiar to him as the sound of a radio alarm would be to us today. The rooster’s crow meant, “Wake up! Get up! A new day is beginning!”

Over the years he had heard that sound a thousand times or more. But of all the times and of all the roosters, he only remembered one time and one rooster and one sound.

It happened one Friday morning in Jerusalem. The rooster crowed, and Peter never forgot it. As long as he lived, he never forgot it, and he never tired of telling the story. In fact, he told the story so often that it was written down four different times—once by Matthew, once by Mark, once by Luke, and once by John.

And the story itself was repeated over and over again by the first generation of Christians. They never forgot it and they never tired of telling it. It became one of the most familiar and best-loved parts of the gospel story.

And for 2,000 years this story—told and re-told, embellished with vivid detail—has encouraged Christians in every land. Wherever the story of Jesus’ arrest is told, the story of Peter and the rooster is sure to be told as well. We love this story because we understand it and because we can see ourselves in it. Few Bible stories speak to us as this one does.

The venerable old Matthew Henry—writing over 300 years ago—divided this story into two parts—Part 1—Peter’s Fall and Part II—Peter’s Getting-Up Again. We will follow that simple outline as we look at this story. As we do, let us thank God that, although Peter fell, he did indeed get up again!

Peter’s Fall

It is late on Thursday night in Jerusalem. Jesus has just been arrested and taken away to the house of the high priest. Most of the disciples are nowhere to be found. They are gone, scattered, drifted off into the darkness, too shocked and too angry by the actions of Judas to do anything else.

When the crowd of soldiers led Jesus away, Peter decided to follow them. He had promised never to desert Jesus, and he wasn’t going to start now. In the confusion it was easy to tag along behind the crowd. No one seemed to notice him. Certainly no one recognized him as one of Jesus’ top men.

He followed the crowd to the house of the high priest. The house opened onto a courtyard which could only be entered through a gate near the alley. By the time Peter got there, the soldiers had taken Jesus inside to meet the high priest. The crowd had partly dispersed, it being late and the major excitement over for the time being. Some had gone home, others were warming themselves by a fire in the courtyard. It was early April and the temperature had dropped into the upper forties.

It was hard for Peter to tell exactly how many people were there. Fifty maybe, or maybe more. There were soldiers milling about and servant girls running errands. Plus there were hangers-on and passers-by (exactly the category Peter himself fit into) who were waiting to see what would happen to this fellow Jesus.

In order to understand what happens next, it helps to remember that it is now sometime after midnight. In the darkness Peter comes to the gate and waits to be admitted. No one there knows who he is (he thinks), so it should be perfectly safe for him to go in. True, he is now in enemy territory but it’s the middle of the night, and there’s no reason for them to suspect him. Armed with that thought, he brushes past the servant girl on his way to stand by the fire in the courtyard.

Denial By Deception

Just as he was getting to the fire, the servant girl spoke up and said, “You were with that Nazarene, Jesus from Galilee.” The words hit Peter like an electric shock. Somehow she recognized him. How did she know him? No one knows. It really didn’t matter. And it didn’t matter that she didn’t know his name. What mattered was that somehow she had connected him with Jesus.

Peter had to think fast. Instinctively, he muttered out the oldest dodge in the world, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” That’s right. Just play dumb. Act like you don’t know what she’s talking about.

It worked. Or at least Peter thought it worked. But as he stood around the fire talking to the soldiers, he noticed two or three people looking at him closely. Too closely. Too carefully. One or two were nodding in his direction and whispering.

Minutes passed and Peter turned to walk out of the courtyard. Things were getting a little dicey. As he did, a second servant girl (a friend of the first), suddenly spoke up: “This fellow is one of them.” Peter tried to act calm but he felt his heart pounding in his chest. Quick now, you’ve got to say something. Think. Think. Don’t just stand there. So he said, “I don’t know the man.” But when he said it, his face was flushed and he could tell the girl didn’t believe him.

“Dammit, I Don’t Know Him”

Peter knew that he was in real trouble. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s in the enemy camp warming himself around the enemy’s fire. If he tried to leave now, that would arouse even more suspicion. But if he stayed, they might find him out.

More time passed, with more looks and whispers directed at him. After about an hour, it appeared that Jesus’ interview with the high priest was about over. The guards were going to and from the house and the tempo in the courtyard picked up. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he would get out of this after all.

It was just at that moment that a man spoke up from the other side of the fire. He sounded more sure of himself and definitely more hostile than the servant girls. “Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?” Peter looked up at him and tried to play dumb. This time it didn’t work. Evidently this fellow had gone with the crowd to arrest Jesus. Worse, he was a relative of Malchus, the man whose ear Peter had impulsively cut off.

Peter was trapped and he knew it. This fellow had seen him with Jesus. Plus, he was plenty ticked off about what Peter had done. When a man is backed into a corner, he will do almost anything to save himself. In this case, Peter began to curse and swear.

“Dammit, I don’t know him. Why don’t you leave me alone? May God strike me dead if I have ever heard of this man Jesus.” The words just came tumbling out, old words born of fear and exhaustion. Words Peter hadn’t used since his days as a fisherman.

At the very instant the words flew from his mouth, a rooster began to crow.

Afraid And Exhausted

Now that the story is laid before us, we should begin to ask some questions, chief among them being what possessed Peter to deny knowing Jesus. The answer is not difficult to find. Peter was scared and he was tired. That doesn’t excuse his conduct, but it does make it understandable. After all that had happened, Peter finally ran out of strength.

Consider the matter from his point of view. Jesus’ case appeared to be hopeless. The chief priests had him at last and they would not let go until he was dead. That much was clear. What point would there be in sticking your neck out?

Besides that, Peter is tired and lonely and cold and a little bit disoriented. Plus—and this is a big factor—he never expected to be questioned by a servant girl. Her question caught him totally off-guard, and he blurted out an answer almost without thinking. But once he denied knowing Jesus there was no turning back. He had to play out the string.

The Devil’s Hounds Run In Packs

That’s part of the irony of this story. Peter denied Christ to a servant girl. Not to the high priest. Not to a soldier. Not to anyone important. But to a menial maid.

I think Peter was ready to die for Christ that night. Just two hours earlier he was whacking off somebody’s ear. No, Peter was no coward. And he knew the risk involved in going to the courtyard of the high priest. And I think (though I cannot prove this) that if Peter had been brought before the high priest he would have said, “Yes, I am a follower of Jesus” and with a smile on his face, he would have followed his Master to the cross. That’s the kind of man he was.

What happened? He was totally unprepared to be questioned by a servant girl. She caught him off guard and he lied about knowing Jesus. But one lie leads on to another. As Alexander Maclaren put it, “One sin makes many. The Devil’s hounds run in packs.”

Peter’s Seven Great Mistakes

What happened to Peter was no fluke. He set himself up by a long string of bad decisions. Here are the seven great mistakes he made that night:

1. He talked when he should have been listening. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said that all his disciples would desert him, Peter impulsively blurted out, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Within 6 hours Peter would come to regret those brave words.

2. He didn’t appreciate his own weakness.

3. He ignored Jesus’ warning.

4. He followed afar off. He followed Jesus, but at a distance, when he should have been at his elbow. In this case, following Jesus afar off only got him in more trouble.

5. He warmed himself at the wrong fire. Peter had no business warming himself in the company of the enemies of the Lord. As one writer put it, “If his faith had not already frozen, he would not have needed to warm himself by the fire.” By consorting with those who had arrested Jesus, Peter was placing himself in a position where he would almost certainly be exposed. Peter warmed himself by the wrong fire until things got too hot for him.

6. He was unprepared when the attack came.

7. He compounded his sin by first deceiving, then denying and finally swearing. But this was inevitable. Peter set himself up for a fall and when it came, it was a big one. “O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” It is interesting to note that Peter fooled only himself. The others never really believed him. They sensed he was lying. Something in his face and the tone of his voice gave him away.

And so it was that Peter—the “Rock"—had crumbled in the critical moment. He had denied his Lord not once, but three times. It was a failure he would remember for the rest of his days. As we think of it, let us take to heart the words of I Corinthians 10:12, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.”

Peter’s Getting Up Again

There were four steps in Peter’s return to the Lord:

1. The Rooster’s Crow.

The gospels are unanimous on one point. The rooster crowed at the exact moment of Peter’s third denial. As the foul words flew out of his mouth—at that very instant—from some-where off in the distance a rooster began to crow.

The rooster crowed, and Peter remembered. William Hendriksen put it this way, “This hidden memory will pull the rope that will ring the bell of Peter’s conscience.”

Suddenly it all became clear. How rash he had been only six hours earlier, how cocky he had been, how confi-dent of his own strength, how sure of his own abilities. The sound of the rooster meant, “Peter, I warned you this would happen and you didn’t believe me.”

2. The Look of Jesus.

Luke’s account of this story contains one detail the others omit. Luke 22:61 says that when the rooster crowed, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.” Since this was the middle of the night, it must have happened just as the guards were taking Jesus from his interview with Caiaphas to his trial before the Sanhedrin. Evidently the guards were leading Jesus through the courtyard just as Peter was denying Christ for the third time. In that tiny moment of time, Peter cursed, the rooster crowed, Peter looked up and saw Jesus looking directly at him.

By this time Jesus’ face is black and blue, his eyes almost swollen shut, his cheeks bruised and covered with spittle. A trace of blood trickles from his lips. Even though it is in the dead of night, Peter can see him perfectly in the firelight. And Jesus can see him.

He doesn’t say a word. He looks at Peter who has denied him for the third time.

Everything has happened just as he predicted.

A. It was a convicting look.

“You said you did not know me. Look at me, Peter. Look at me. Do you not know me?”

B. It was a compassionate look.

“Peter, how weak you are. Now you know that without me you can do nothing.”

C. It was a commissioning look.

“Weep, Peter, and remember your words. Then go and strengthen your brothers.”

3. The words of Jesus.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all stress that when the rooster crowed, Peter remembered the words of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” It was this memory more than anything else that brought Peter back to God. Not only had Peter fallen, he had fallen after his vain boasting. It had happened just as Jesus predicted. Those words—spoken in love—had lodged themselves deep within the crevasses of Peter’s mind. So much had happened in those few hours that Peter had forgotten. But at the opportune moment, he remembered what Jesus had said.

4. Peter’s tears.

The words used mean that Peter wept bitterly. They are a sign of his deep repentance. He realized at last what he had done, how far he had fallen, how his denials had hurt the Lord.

But Judas wept, too. His tears led to suicide; Peter’s tears led to repentance. Tears are good if they lead to a new devotion to Jesus Christ and a new determination to serve him. We may weep and weep, but if our hearts are not made tender and open before the Lord, our tears do us no good. For Peter, his tears signaled the breaking of his heart because of his sin. As the Psalmist said, “A broken and contrite heart, O Lord, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

His Courage, Not His Faith

I conclude from all of this that Peter was fundamentally loyal to Jesus Christ. After all, at least he followed Jesus into the courtyard. The rest of the disciples wouldn’t even do that. In the words of William Barclay:
Peter fell to a temptation that could only come to a brave man. The man of courage always runs more risks than the man who seeks a placid safety. Liability to temptation is the price that a man pays when he is adventurous in mind and action. (Luke, p. 270)

Peter didn’t handle himself well, but at least he was there. His failure was terrible, but at least he cared enough to try and follow his Lord. That doesn’t excuse his sin, but it does help us see the bigger picture.

In the end, it was not Peter’s faith that failed, but his courage. Jesus had told Peter, “I have prayed for you that your faith might not fail.” (Luke 22:32). His prayer was answered. Peter never lost his faith; in the moment of crisis, he lost his courage.

It is true that Peter was loud, profane and vulgar that night. It is also true that underneath it all he loved Jesus and was there in the courtyard—with all his faults—keeping an eye on him. At heart Peter was a good man who failed to live up to the best intentions of his heart.

Three Abiding Lessons

1. Satan often attacks us at the point of our strength, not the point of our weakness.

After all, had not Peter boldly said, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you?” If you had asked Peter six hours earlier to name his strong points, no doubt he would have listed bold-ness and courage right at the top. He would have said, “Sometimes I put my foot in my mouth, but at least I’m not afraid to speak up. Jesus knows that I’ll always be there when he needs me.”

But when Satan attacked, it came so suddenly, so swiftly, so unexpectedly that the “bold apostle turned to butter.” By himself Peter is helpless. In the moment of crisis, Peter fails in the very point where he pledged to be eternally faithful.

Should this surprise us? After all, why should Satan attack only in the point of your self-perceived weakness? If you know you have a weakness, that’s the very area you will guard most carefully. If you know you have a problem with anger or with laziness or with lust or with gluttony, will you not be on your guard lest you fall?

But it is not so with your strengths. You take those areas for granted. You say, “That’s not a problem for me. I have other problems, but that area is not really a temptation at all.”

Watch out! Put up the red flag! There is danger ahead. When a person takes any area of life for granted, that’s the one area Satan is most likely to attack. Why? Because that’s the one area where you aren’t watching for his attack.

It happened to Peter. It will happen to you and to me sooner or later.

2. God allows us to fail in order to strip away our excessive self-confidence.

Never again would Peter brag on himself like he did that night. Never again would he presume to be better than his brothers. Never again would he be so cocky and self-confident. All that was gone forever, part of the price Peter paid for his failure in the moment of crisis.

It is a good thing that the Lord allows this to happen to us. By falling flat on our faces we are forced to admit that without the Lord we can do nothing but fail. The quicker we learn that (and we never learn it completely) the better off we will be. Failure never seems to be a good thing when it happens, but if failure strips away our cocky self-confidence, then failure is ultimately a gift from God.

A few years ago I was at a major turning point in my life. As I agonized over the choice I must make, some dear friends came to give me their candid advice. At the time I did not want to hear what they had to say. It was (I thought ) not given in love. I felt they were harsh and judgmental in the things they said.

As I listened I got angrier and angrier until I lost my temper and said some things that I came later to deeply regret. I used words that I would never repeat here. Anger boiled over within me and words spewed out like hot lava from a volcano. After it was over, I sat shaking in my chair, frightened at the rage that had been pent up within me.

Days passed and the anger within subsided very slowly. It was as though once the top had been blown off, I couldn’t get it back on again. My anger flared up every time I thought of that confrontation.

A month later while attending a conference in another state I happened to meet a man who was to become a close personal friend. One night we stayed up late and I told, in exhaustive detail, the story of my personal explosion. As I told it, I got angry all over again.

My friend listened to the whole sordid tale and then he spoke. “Ray, you are a lucky man. What happened to you was a sign of God’s grace.” I thought he was crazy when he said that, but he continued. “For many years you’ve had the image of a man completely in control of his life. You appear on the outside to be laid-back. If anyone had said, ‘Do you have a temper?’, you would have laughed and said, ‘Not really.’ You can’t say that anymore. It’s as if God reached down and pulled back the cover off your life and showed you your depravity. From now on you can never say, ‘I don’t have a temper,’ because you do. God let you say those terrible things to your friends so that you could never again pretend to be something that you are not. That’s the grace of God at work in your life.”

I believe every word my friend said was absolutely true. God let me fail in the moment of crisis and in so doing, he showed me a part of myself I had never seen before.

That’s what he did for Peter. Never again would Peter stand up and boast about his courage. In the future he would talk about humility instead.

3. God can redeem your mistakes if you will let him.

I notice two interesting facts about the way Jesus treated Peter: 1. He never criticized him and, 2. He never gave up on him. Jesus knew about Peter’s denial long before it happened. He knew what Peter would do, he knew how he would react, and he knew the kind of man Peter would be afterward.

There is an important principle at work here. A bone that is broken often becomes stronger after it is healed. Something in the healing process actually makes the break point stronger than it was before. The same is true of a rope that breaks. In the hands of a master splicer, the rope once repaired, will be stronger than it was before.

The same thing is true of our failures. God can take us where we are broken and make us stronger than we were before. Though we fall and fall and fall, and though our faces are covered with the muck and grime of bitter defeat, by God’s grace we can rise from the field of defeat to march on to new victory.

That’s what happened to Peter. His guilt was turned into grace; his shame into sympathy; his failure into faithfulness.

Here is the proof: Peter did much more for Jesus Christ after his fall than he did before. Before his fall, he was loud, boisterous and unreliable; afterward he became a flaming preacher of the gospel. Before he was a big talker; afterward he talked only of what Jesus Christ could do for others. He was the same man, but he was different. He was still Peter through and through, but he had been sifted by Satan and in the sifting the chaff of his life had been blown away.

This is what Peter lost in his failure:

• His vanity
• His pride
• His self-confidence
• His rash impulsiveness
• His unreliability

This is what Peter gained after his restoration:
 

• Humility
• New confidence in God
• Tested courage
• New determination to serve Jesus Christ
• A willingness to use his experience to help others

The things he lost he didn’t really need; the things he gained couldn’t have come any other way. In the same way God redeems our mistakes by removing the things that brought us down and replacing them with the qualities we always wanted but couldn’t seem to find.

Hope For The Fallen

There is much in this story that should encourage us. It was not the real Peter who denied the Lord; it was the real Peter who followed him into the courtyard. It was not the real Peter who cursed and swore; it was the real Peter who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” When the Lord looks at you and me, he doesn’t look at us and see only our failures. He sees beyond our faults to the loyalty underneath. He sees our pain, our tears and our earnest desire to please him. He sees us in our faltering attempts to follow him.

To whom does this story apply?

First of all, to you who are being tempted, who feel the pull of circumstances conspiring to draw you away from the Lord. Take heart! Do you feel weak and confused? Peter felt that way, too. Are you discouraged about your life? Peter felt discouraged, too. Do you feel backed into a corner? So did Peter. This story is for you.

Second, this story is for those who have fallen. Perhaps you gave way under pressure this week. Perhaps you carry a load of guilt from some thoughtless words spoken in haste. Perhaps you denied the Lord by keeping quiet at work when you should have spoken up. Perhaps you have used vile language this week—even if only spoken under your breath. Perhaps you have been where you ought not to have been. Perhaps you have found yourself in a relationship that you know is wrong. Take heart! Peter not only felt like you, he also fell like you.

Third, this story is for those who are coming back to God. Perhaps you know all about weeping bitter tears. Do you feel as if God is far away from you? Does it seem as if you are trudging across a vast desert all alone? Do you feel embarrassed and humiliated by the things you did and said that got you in the mess you’re in? Take heart! Peter felt that way, too.

No story in all the Bible gives us more hope. If Peter can fall, anybody can fall. If Peter can come back, anybody can come back.

“Look What Happened To Me”

One final point. Where did this story come from? How did it get in the Bible? Who told this story in the first place? It could only have come from Peter. No one else was there to tell what happened.

We wouldn’t have done that. We hide our mistakes to make sure no one finds out about them. Not Peter. Once he was restored, he couldn’t stop talking about what Jesus had done for him.

Peter still speaks to us today. “If you think you’ve fallen short, if you feel like you’ve denied him, look at what happened to me. Do not despair. God still loves you, and He loves you so much that it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. If God can forgive me, He can forgive anybody. He loves you, He always has and He always will.

There is hope for all of us—the best of us, the worst of us, and the rest of us. If you have fallen, he can pick you up again. If you are broken, He can make you whole again. If you have failed, He can make you useful again. If you have lost your courage, He can give it back to you again.

Take heart and believe the good news. If He did it for Peter, He can do it for you.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
John 14:27

John devotes one-third of his book to the 24-hour period immediately preceding Jesus' death. Chapters 13-17 describe one of the scenes from that long day and night, and nothing like these chapters exists elsewhere in the Bible. In their slow-motion, realistic detail, they provide an intimate memoir of Jesus' most anguished evening.

Leonardo da Vinci immortalized the setting in his famous painting The Last Supper, with the participants arranged on one side of the table as if posing for the artist. John himself gives few physical details; instead, he focuses on a whirlpool of emotional currents.

John holds a light to the disciples' faces, and you can almost see the awareness flickering in their eyes. All that Jesus has told them is slowly settling in. As for Jesus, "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (John 13:1).

Jesus Prepares to Leave

Never before has Jesus been so direct with them. Around the table he avoids parables and painstakingly answers the disciples' redundant questions. The world is about to undergo a convulsive trauma, and the 11 fearful men with him are his hope for that world.

Jesus patiently explains until at last the disciples show signs of understanding. God's Son, having entered the world to reside in one body, will soon leave the earth to return to the Father. Yet someone else-the Spirit of truth, the Advocate-will come to live inside them.

Yes, Jesus is planning to die. He is leaving them. But in some mysterious way, he is not leaving. He will not stay dead. For the disciples, caught up in the excitement of the Passover but sobered by Jesus' haunting focus on death, it is all too much to grasp. This night Jesus gives them an intimacy with the Father such as they have never known; even so, he promises an even greater intimacy to come. He seems aware that much at which they now nod their heads will not make sense until later.

Life Questions

How would you describe Jesus' reaction to impending death? Panic? Confidence? Sober concentration? Resignation? Concern for others?

by Timothy C Glover

Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18; 19-29

Introduction:

First Mary Magdalene, and then Peter and John, discover the empty tomb that first Easter morning. Jesus was gone. They were now witnesses to the resurrection. John says that he believed it, although he inserts in hindsight that he and Peter did not yet fully understand it from Scripture. Mary however stands outside the tomb weeping because Jesus' body is gone. She suspects foul play. She thinks the body has been stolen. She doesn't yet attribute the empty grave to the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples have gone to their homes no doubt to tell others and sort out the details.

Jesus was probably invisibly there outside the empty tomb watching individual reactions. No doubt his attitude was one of humor mixed with pity and compassion that these with whom he had spent so much time teaching were so slow to learn. After Mary curiously peeks into the tomb, her heart is exposed to angelic inquiry regarding her emotional state. Being consumed with her emotions, she was not really shocked that she has just seen angels or why they may have been there or why they were talking to her. She answers them honestly and plainly without second thought.

As she turns around, Jesus compassionately appears to tease her with his presence. Not recognizing him, she continues to pour out her tale of woe, when Jesus then calls her name in a way that only he could. He knows each of us intimately. Mary bursts out in a passionate display of devotion and worship, now believing the good news of the resurrection. Thinking she only has him for a little while, she holds on tightly. Jesus cautions her that things are not as they were before but assures her that he is not quite yet returning to the Father. She will see him again and she must tell the others that they will too. We must believe that he is now eternally ours. She then returns to the disciples with her own personal testimony. Once we have seen Jesus, he becomes ours, whether by sight or by faith.

With this, we embark on a side trip with the disciple, Thomas, who had his own issues of sight and faith to work out. It is a journey that each of us must take for ourselves. Whether we have seen the empty tomb and believe, or see it from Scripture, or by angelic conversation, or by visible sighting of the Lord Jesus, it is all by the eyes of faith. Whether he appears to you as the caretaker of your garden or as the stranger on the road or comes to you miraculously in the midst of your cell group, each must see with eyes of faith to recognize that he is Lord. He must be your personal sighting. Some will believe quickly, and some will need convincing. But if we want to see Jesus, we must not bury our heads in the sand.

I think that is what Thomas did. His name "Didymus" means 'twin'. Perhaps he was a twin, but we also see his twin natures. We see it in two other verses where John mentions him. He was capable of extreme devotion as well as ridiculous doubt. I think it dramatically describes most of us. Oh, the patience that God must have!

John 11:16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

John 14:5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

It was evening of that first Easter. The disciples had gathered together, probably in the Upper Room, behind locked doors. They were justifiably afraid. Certainly there would be a search for the body by the Roman and religious authorities, and they would be the number one suspects. Mary had already told them she had seen Jesus. He had also appeared to the women (Mt. 28:9), and to Peter (Lk. 24:34; 1Cor. 15:5). The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had also told them Jesus appeared to them. Even though the disciples were afraid, they must have certainly hoped that Jesus might appear to them too. At least they knew that he was alive. But they had locked themselves in. Somehow or for some reason, Thomas was locked out, perhaps by his own choice. Given this account in John, Thomas must not have been present with the disciples when the two returned from the journey to Emmaus. In Luke 24:33, it says that they told the Eleven of Jesus appearance to them. That must have merely been a categorical reference to the group of original disciples.

But why was Thomas not there? Was he skeptical of the news that Jesus had risen? Did he absent himself in order to nurse depression? Were his expectations thrown way out of adjustment? Certainly his worldview needed some radical readjusting, just like the other disciples, and this separation was how he chose to handle it. Perhaps he wanted to believe what he had heard but just couldn't bring himself to do it. He needed time and space. He had to handle it in his own way. He desperately needed to see Jesus. But look at what happens when we choose to be so independent. He missed what he so desperately wanted and needed.

I. The man who wanted to see absented himself

John 20:19-24
A. He left the disciples. He left fellowship and worship
B. He left the presence of Jesus. He missed a special blessing
(of H.S.)

II. The man who wanted to see stayed home

John 20:19
A. He stayed home from service while others served
B. He stayed home on the Sabbath while others were blessed

III. The man who wanted to see was doubtful

John 20:25
A. He doubted his friends and doubted their word
B. He doubted that they had seen Jesus and that Christ had risen

IV. The man who wanted to see declared his position

John 20:25
A. He said, "I must see to believe, " "Except I see His hands"
B. He said, "Except I see the nail prints," "Except I see Jesus risen

V. The man who wanted to see wanted to feel

John 20:25
A. He wanted his finger to feel Jesus' scarred hands
B. He wanted to feel the nail prints
C. He wanted to thrust his hand in Jesus' side

The rest of the disciples had the right idea. They waited in community and Jesus appeared to them through locked doors, showing them his hands and side. It would be a week later before Thomas would see the Jesus he had fretted over all alone. Thomas had brought himself back into community. If you recall, this was Jesus prayer for all of us in John 17:20-23. Our faith is encouraged by others around us. We receive it personally, but we express it corporately. We need each other. There is strength in numbers. Why is it that we sometimes take ourselves away from that which we need the worst? Do you want to see Jesus? Come to church and participate. The church will triumph! We are the body of Christ!

Even still, Thomas said he would not believe Christ had risen until he saw the scars and the prints of the nails in His hands. The doors were locked once again. And again Jesus came right on in. This was a replay of the previous scene. But this time he came for Thomas. Except for Peter first and Thomas last, Jesus had appeared to his Eleven disciples together. There was something unique about each of these two personalities. They each denied the Christ, and yet each was capable of profound faith. Jesus will go after the lost sheep, and he meets us each at our point of need. Jesus' word to Thomas is appropriate to us all. He said, "Stop doubting and believe." He offers his hands and side to Thomas to do as he had previously boasted. We don't know if Thomas actually did as he said he wanted by putting his hands in the wounds. He probably did not. But one thing for sure, he finally proclaimed his faith in the risen Lord. Faced with the game plan, he found he didn't need to make Jesus jump through the hoops of his proof tests after all. Why is the story of Thomas in the Bible? Perhaps to show the most hardened skeptic that the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a real event as the importance he placed upon the wounds testifies.

VI. Thomas' great opportunity finally came

John 20:26-27
A. He came to see the Risen Christ, he hear the voice of Jesus
B. He came to feel His hands and side
C. He exclaimed, "My Lord and my God" (a leap of faith – for no one has previously addressed Jesus this way) Jesus was alive although he had died, and he must be addressed in the language of adoring worship.

Conclusion: John 20:29

And what is Jesus' word to us here today?