Holy Week is coming

Sorrowful anticipation for Good Friday
Happy anticipation for Easter
Holy Week is coming. Let us remember his Passion.

When I started observing Holy Week as an adult, I couldn't believe the meaning it put into the events of Jesus' last days for me. As I child of 7  I watched a movie about Jesus (can't remember which one) and remember I almost vomited when the whipped and killed him. It wasn't even at the level the "Passion of the Christ."   A teacher of mine read us The Day Christ Died once. I shook the entire time. I don't advise reading that book to children. I know we can't be shielded from the horror of the event. Over the years I have tried to push the feelings down. I avoided Good Friday services and any visual that had to do with the crucifixion. Now I believe  it is best to embrace the feelings of horror. It WAS the worst thing humanity could ever do. It was obscene and horrific and violent and gory. I tried to watch the "Passion of the Christ" when it came out in theaters. My students were asking about it. I felt I owed it to them. I went by myself. I sat behind a group of people that were laughing and joking and eating popcorn. I sat in front of a group who were loudly sobbing. I sat alone. I couldn't cry, the pain was too deep. Finally when they shoved the crowns into his scalp I left. I shook all the way home. I confessed to my class I couldn't get through it. I have never managed to finish it.

Easter Sunday Evening Revealed at the Table Luke 24:14-33

Revealed at the Table

Luke 24:14-33

They had seen it. They had seen the crucifixion of Jesus, prefaced by the crowds crying Crucify Him. They had heard Peter’s account of the resurrected Christ. All the events together swirled in confusion. They wanted to rejoice that Jesus was alive, but they had seen him die. So they talked, trying to make sense of everything. Meanwhile someone came up behind them. They did not recognize him.
“What are you discussing with each other as you walk along?” They just stood there, sadness showing on their faces.
Cleopas said, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”
He asked, “What things?”
“The things about Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” But we had hoped…
Haven’t we hoped? Haven’t we all hoped to find meaning deeper than what we see everyday? There must be something deeper, better than the everyday drudgery.
All of our hopes and dreams were tied up in this man called Jesus. But he died! He died! And you can’t imagine our despair. But some say he is alive.
This evening most of us can identify with the idea of broken dreams. All of us have had our worlds come crashing down around us. Whether it was someone we loved and hoped to spend our lives with dumping us or the death of a family member, or a job we had hoped and prayed and worked to get that was denied us. Or maybe our despair is tied up in church. We attend hoping to see something change in our lives and leave disappointed that we were bored stiff. We hope to find meaning in such rituals as communion and singing together (like today) but we admit sometimes instead we feel despair.
THERE’S A REASON WE FEEL DESPAIR. Many communion services we have to admit, remind us of a funeral. Why? Because we stop at the remembrance of the death of Christ! We must not stop there. This do in remembrance of me connects to more than just his death. It connects to his resurrection. Why? Because the world has an earth shattering change between Luke chapters 22 and 24. He dies. Yet he rises again. The whole universe rests on that “yet.”
Jesus shares the supper with two believers AFTER he dies! He sits and celebrates all that has been fulfilled. He shows by this event that every time we come together to share the supper, to feast at his table HE COMES TO US! But like Cleopas and his companion, we must invite him.
When we invite him to come among us, he will reveal his resurrected presence to us.
And if you say, “But I can’t see him,” Remember what he said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who don’t see and yet believe.”
Let’s not give Jesus an opportunity to say this to us, “You’re foolish! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?”
May our times together at his Table be party time! Jesus has introduced us to HIS KINGDOM by his resurrection. He has shown us another way to live, an alternate reality. We may try to escape from the nightmares of our own lives by drowning in alcohol, drugs, lust. We may try to forget our own reality by losing ourselves in a movie or TV show or comic book. But the best way to change your reality is to live in the kingdom by responding to this resurrected Christ.
Ask him in. Invite him to come to the table of your life: to sit with you, to walk with you, to eat with you. Invite his preaching of peace and compassion to fill your life so full of love that you have no more room to hate. No room to hate your parents, your boss, or anyone who has betrayed you. Come live a life that celebrates the Table of his love for you. Come, every week as we sing and rejoice that Jesus Christ has broken into history.
What will you say to those who ask you tomorrow “How was church yesterday?” You will say, “Well, you kind of had to be there.” There is no way to describe this! You have to experience it! Why don’t you come and see next week?
He interpreted to them everything about himself in the Scriptures.
He needed an invitation to stay. They wanted him to stay, for they had FOUND THEMSELVES IN THE STORY. “Please tell us more”
HE SAT AT THE TABLE WITH THEM. HE TOOK BREAD, BLESSED AND BROKE IT AND GAVE IT TO THEM.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He vanished.

And they sought his resurrected presence continually.

WERE NOT OUR HEARTS BURNING WITHIN US WHILE HE WAS TALKING TO US ON THE ROAD, WHILE HE WAS OPENING THE SCRIPTURES TO US?

Were not our hearts burning within us? I invite you to join me in the party of the burning heart. Do you know what it means to have a burning heart? Do you know what it means to have news so exciting you have to share it with someone? Do you remember what it is like to fall in love? You can’t hide it! You may try, but someone is going to see it written all over your face. You think about your love all the time, their face creeps into every conversation. You can’t wait to see them, to touch them, to hang on their every word. Your heart burns.
I invite you to fall in love with Jesus. Invite him to your table. You will see him. And love for him will fill your soul to an extent that you will overflow. Everyone who sees you will wonder. You will tell them that you are in love. You’re in love with Jesus Christ.

That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. Running all the way, found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying:

“THE LORD HAS RISEN INDEED AND HE HAS APPEARED TO SIMON.”
They told what had happened
Again Jesus came and stood among them.
PEACE BE WITH YOU
He came in the midst of telling the story.

Why, you ask, must we tell the story of Jesus over and over? Must we hear every week that he lived, died and rose again? Why must we take the bread and the wine over and over? Isn’t once enough?

The early Christians met daily! You thought weekly was enough? They met daily, praising God, praying, eating the feast, and listening to the apostles’ teaching. Why?

Because the world they lived in was so awful they had to! They had to meet together to be reminded that this present evil age had come to an end. A new day had dawned. The Kingdom of God had come. When the present evil crept into their homes and lives they ran to the Table to remember Jesus. He appeared to them and assured them his presence had shattered the evil. They clung to his feet and begged to stay in his presence. Yet he reminded them he was with them, always, that his spirit had come and set them on fire. Their hearts burned within them and they ran back out into the streets to let his love overflow once more. But the next day, they had to sit at the table with Jesus again.
Come; let us tell His story together. Let us be reminded once again that the evil has been shattered by the presence of the one and only Son of God.

Easter Sunday HE IS RISEN JUST AS HE SAID John 20:1-18

Woman, why are you weeping?

John 20:1-18

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him”


“He is Risen! He is Risen Just as He said!”
“I have seen the Lord!”
“I’ve seen him! I’ve seen him! He said my name!”

After you, John, and you, Peter, left the tomb, I stayed. I couldn’t leave. I stood outside in the garden weeping. I bent over, and I looked into the tomb. I saw two men inside. But now I think they must have been angels. They said to me, “Woman, why are you weeping?” I wanted to scream, to shout, to throw something at them. How could they not know? I said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” After I finished speaking, I turned around. I saw a man standing there. He seemed to have come from nowhere, but I thought he must be the gardener. He asked me the same thing the others asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
I wondered why everyone kept asking me this. I said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Then he said, “Mary.” He might as well have said, “SURPRISE! It’s me!” It was him! I said “Teacher!” His face shone like the sun. He looked the same, yet different. I didn’t recognize him because I wasn’t looking for him. But when he said my name, I knew him. My heart knew him. Oh, my brothers, you shouldn’t have left the tomb so fast. I think you would have seen him too.
Oh, I’ve got to go tell some others. Can you believe it? Jesus is alive!
Oh, hello. Did you know Jesus is risen from the dead? You don’t know me? It’s more important that you know Jesus, but I will tell you how I know him. I will tell you what he did for me.
I’m from Magdala. Magdala means tower. It is found on the western shore of the sea of Galilee. It’s on a main highway, and like most towns on main highways, it’s a place where lots of evil happens. I lived there all of my life. I was like most citizens of Magdala, I guess. We’re not known for our morals. I lived a life that I’m quite ashamed of now. By the time I met Jesus, I had seven demons tormenting me. They controlled my life, and I was quite sick both in mind and body. HE IS RISEN
I remember when I first heard of Jesus. Someone came running into town one day and claimed they had met the Messiah. The Messiah! We had hoped for the Messiah so long we had almost given up on him. The man said he had seen Jesus cast demons out of people. I couldn’t quite comprehend why, but I knew I had to find this man Jesus.
I left everything then. I went searching for him. He wasn’t too hard to find at that time. Openly he healed and preached and everyone in the countryside knew of him. Even the scribes, sadduccess, and pharisees. But they didn’t like him.
I remember the day I first saw him. He taught in the midst of a circle of men I knew later to be his twelve disciples. I walked right up to the group, but when I got close enough for them to see me, I couldn’t say anything. I had been taught all of my life that women don’t speak to men in public, esp. important teachers. I just hung my head and tears fell from my face to the ground to mingle with the dust.
He read my mind. I heard him speak to the demons within me. After a struggle all seven of them left me. They had no power to resist this man of God. I fell on the ground. The next thing I remember, I was close to a flickering fire. The firelight shone in his eyes as I looked into them. I had never seen such love. Certainly no man I had ever been near had ever looked at me with love. I knew I could never leave him. I had to find out where that kind of love came from. HE IS RISEN
So I joined the group of women who traveled with Jesus and his disciples. We worked, sewing, weaving, washing for others. We used the money we earned to provide for Jesus.
Soon after I joined Jesus, the Pharisees accused Jesus of having a demon. I wanted to scratch their eyes out. How could this man have a demon? Obviously they didn’t know demons as I did. Jesus stood up to them. He always did. I had never trusted anyone until I met him. I trusted him completely.
Once Jesus mother and brothers came to see him. They could not get to him. I had met his mother before. She came to see him often. But this time Jesus said “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word and do it.” I knew then that I had finally found the family I had never had. James, John, even Peter they now talked to me, following the example of Jesus. Those who didn’t know us often showed the shock on their faces as they heard these men have conversations with us women. Jesus broke down barriers we had never thought to touch. He showed me that I am a valued person, someone worthy of love and care. HE IS RISEN
Jesus treated everyone with the same love and respect. He touched lepers as if they were his close friends or family. He talked to tax collectors as if they hadn’t even tried to rob him. He healed women without a thought that he might be considered unclean. He taught with authority. Everyone had to listen. They just had to. I never even considered going back to Magdala once joining his followers.
After a while, Jesus began to talk of death. His own death. We didn’t listen. We couldn’t understand how the Messiah could be killed. He had too much power. Hadn’t we seen with our own eyes what he could do? Sometimes after he had gone away to pray he would come back with tears and such a sad face. I wanted to comfort him, but I knew I couldn’t. Nothing could. HE IS RISEN
Now that I’ve seen what happened I understand his anguish. I was there as they brought him to trial, as the crowds cried crucify him. I heard the whips lash his precious back. Each time I felt the pain as if it were hitting me. As he stumbled under the heavy beam, I tried to get close to him, to touch him, to let him know I hadn’t left him. The soldiers threw me to the ground. I stood in the crowd as they pounded the nails into his hands and feet. Mary, the wife of Clopas, and I tried to shield his mother, Mary, from the scene. She wailed and couldn’t be comforted.
I don’t know how to describe to you the anguish we felt. We followed Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus to the tomb, to prepare his body with spices. But we didn’t have much time since it was the Sabbath. That Sabbath was the longest day of our lives. We stayed together, the disciples keeping a low profile in fear they too would be crucified. I didn’t care. I would have taken his place. But I stayed near my friends. We didn’t have many words of comfort to say to each other. Mostly we just cried. HE IS RISEN!
We never slept. When finally the first day dawned, the Sabbath over, I could stay in hiding no longer. I went back to the tomb. Maybe just being near his body would bring comfort, and we had to wrap the body better and add the burial spices. Darkness still filled the air. I could barely see. The sun had just barely reached the horizon when I reached the tomb. The stone had been removed. I knew someone had taken his body so I ran to tell the others. Peter and John ran back with me. They ran into the tomb and saw the grave clothes lying there. They didn’t say much, but ran home. I couldn’t leave. Maybe they would bring his body back.
But as I already told you, I found Jesus there that day, or rather he found me.

I wish I could explain to you the excitement, the joy. But you have all lost people you love. Remember Lazarus? How Jesus raised him? Imagine that, but 100 times better! Jesus took our dashed hopes of all that we had believed and made them anew. Renewed. His death devastated us, but his resurrection restores us. I just saw the risen Lord this morning. Now I’m ready to face anything the world has to throw at me. Nothing else matters. Just that he’s alive. HE IS RISEN!

What difference does the resurrection make in your life? It took Jesus saying my name for me to believe that he had risen. And he had told me about it hundreds of times. What will it take for you to believe today? John said he’s going to write all this down so no one forgets. He said he would write everything down so that others will believe in Jesus. I believe. Do you? HE IS RISEN!