With Easter on the way, now must be the time to give priority to examining and believing what Jesus achieved for us in the short period between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Morning, and what those massive achievements mean for us here and now.
On Palm Sunday the crowds turned out to cheer Jesus on His way into Jerusalem, buoyed up by the miracle of Lazarus’s return from the dead, which some had seen and all the others had heard about. Their enthusiastic response turned out to be skin-deep. Too often our Christian lives seem to revolve around their high points and we run the risk of sinking back into a mere routine of prayer and Bible reading, which lacks the enthusiasm and fire the Lord wants us to enjoy.
Jesus actually spent most of Holy Week in the temple or in the Upper Room teaching. So many of the most striking and memorable passages in St. John’s Gospel record what Jesus said – about the Holy Spirit, the Vine and its branches and of course, the great High Priestly Prayer. Everything that Jesus taught during those tense few days needs to sink deep into our souls to tighten our grip on His gracious hands, especially as we traverse the inevitable hatred that the unbelieving world will express against the Lord and us, His holy people.
Then we come to Maundy Thursday, that final meal Jesus shares with his closest followers. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper is one of only two direct orders that Jesus issues to His twelve Apostles and thus to His Church. The other, as St. Matthew records in his last chapter, is to go out into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptising them in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Here we see the essential unity of Word and Sacrament, so beautifully expressed in our great Anglican tradition. In the Upper Room the Disciples did not just hear the Word of Life, they also received the very Body and Blood of their Lord, the physical manna to sustain their spiritual lives.
However, something else happened on that Thursday night. The mighty Creator of heaven and earth condescended to wash His Disciples’ feet, demonstrating to His followers for all time that they must live in true humility and be prepared to get down and clean off the dirt of the world that daily hurts and depresses the lives of their brothers and sisters. This is a hard lesson, especially for those of us who are ordained. We are used to holding the wash basin, but are not naturally inclined to get down and use the water, soap and towel.
Good Friday comes all too soon. As we stand at the foot of the cross, we see a torn body suffering agonies for us, those wonderful hands trickling out God’s very life blood for us, even as He is saying, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing.” What incredible love shown to us all in those outstretched arms!
We are probably all very familiar with the truth that it is only Jesus’s precious blood that can wash away our sins and that He carried the massive burden of all our evil and wickedness upon His innocent shoulders, but we must not forget His final word - “It is finished.” As St. Paul reminds us in Colossians, “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.” The cross is the final and decisive episode in the tussle between God and His implacable enemy, the devil. The sacrifice of Himself was the payment He had to make to release us from the power of the evil one.
After the rest of Holy Saturday comes Easter Day, when the empty tomb is the Father’s own verdict, His thumb’s up on the totality of the salvation Jesus has won for us on the cross. He did it! No wonder all the Easter hymns are full of Alleluias. Let us all make sure to add our own.
