‘Profound’

3/27/2018

I Was Thinking…

This is a profound week. We call it ‘Holy/Passion Week’. Lent accelerates to a Passover/Seder meal and then to the execution of an innocent man. It is a week of mishandled politics where power is used to handle the fear of the loss of power. It is a week where leaders of the ancient church do not come off as compassionate and God-fearing, but rather as weak people to be pitied with their own personal agendas encouraged by selfish blind lies supported by well-developed rationalizations.

‘Holy Week’ is often crowded out with Easter Egg Hunts, Spring Break preparations, Basketball madness, Baseball season beginnings and Masters’ Week anticipations. The world no longer stops for such a time known as ‘Holy Week’. The noise of the world is loud with much to see, do and of which to become distracted. However, if we lose our focus during ‘Holy Week’ then what are the chances we will lose?

This is the third day of the week (Thus ‘Third Day Thoughts’). On this morning of Holy Week, Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem. They passed a withered fig tree on their way and Jesus taught them about faith. At Church (the temple) the religious leaders aggressively challenged Jesus’ authority, attempting to ambush him and create an opportunity for his arrest. But Jesus evaded their traps and pronounced harsh judgment on them: “Blind guides…you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness…” (Matthew 23:24ff)

Later on that Tuesday Jesus left the city and went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives where he overlooked Jerusalem and offered the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age.

After a tiring day of confrontation and warnings, Jesus and his disciples stayed the night in the Jerusalem suburb of Bethany.

Each day of ‘Holy Week’ is profound in the sense that there is a movement toward a great sacrifice made for you and for me. An innocent man gave his life so that our sins would not condemn us but that we might be saved from ourselves and the sinful things we too easily think, say or do. God gave an only child for us…can we comprehend such love? This is a profound week!

Always Thinking…