Easter will soon be upon us.
Holy week began with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, along with his disciples, to celebrate the Passover. The crowd shouted "Hosanna!" as he rode into Jerusalem.
Monday may have included Jesus cursing the fig tree and exposing corruption of the temple system by driving at the merchants and money changers in the court of the Gentiles - both acts declared God‘s dissatisfaction with Israel’s religious leaders.
By Tuesday, Jesus clashes with the religious leaders and has made Himself their enemy. Jesus predicts his death to his disciples, but assures them that death is not the end that he will be resurrected and eventually return to establish his kingdom he also warns them and us not to trust people who say they know the signs of the end but to keep focused on him and the good news.
Holy Wednesday (sometimes referred to as "Spy Wednesday"), is the day when Judas Iscariot offered to betray Jesus to the Jewish leaders for 30 pieces of silver. We will never know if his motivation was greed, disappointment in Jesus not being a military king, or pushing Jesus to reveal his power, but all the gospel writers make clear that Judas' actions are incited by Satan.
Maundy Thursday was the night of the Passover supper celebrating God‘s liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. At this supper, Jesus gave his disciples a new mandate on the commandment that they love one another as he loved them. He also spoke about how bread and wine symbolizes his body and blood, and are to be taken in remembrance of Jesus and all he has taught them.
The day during holy week we referred to as "Good" Friday is the darkest, most painful day. After sharing the Passover meal with his friends, Jesus takes them on across the valley to a garden, where he enters a time of deep excruciating prayer and asks God to spare him from the death he knows is coming. In the garden, Judas betrays Jesus to the assembled mob with a kiss, setting in motion an illegal and biased trial that condemn Jesus to death. After being scourged, mocked, beaten, stripped naked, and humiliated, Jesus is nailed to a cross outside the city before dying. Jesus prays for those who are killing him: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do!" (Luke 23:24) Even in the darkness of Good Friday, God‘s love for all mankind shines brightly.
Holy Saturday is a day of sorrow and waiting, waiting in grief and hope with unanswered questions. Jesus' disciples, wait in sorrow and confusion. They believed he was the promised Messiah, but now he has been crucified/murdered. He talked about dying and being raised back to life, but that cannot happen. All their hope in the Messiah was destroyed with his death, but death is not the end for Jesus.
Three days after his execution, two female disciples find the tombstone rolled away and Jesus' body is gone. Angelic beings tell them that Jesus is alive and plans to meet his disciples in Galilee. They are told to tell the other disciples who are skeptical at first, but when Jesus appears among them and allows them to touch him, they believe.
Jesus is the firstborn of humanity in the new creation, and in the light of Christ, we can know that our life does not end in earthly death. God‘s love will through to the new creation. This is the hope and joy of Easter!
