Waiting can be hard.
Sometimes the waiting is filled with excitement and joy. I think back to when I was a child as Christmas neared. I could see all those presents under the tree, I couldn’t wait for December 25th to come and I could see what was inside all the packages.
As adults we call this season Advent – it is the four Sunday’s leading up to the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is a time of waiting, but it is waiting with great anticipation and excitement – Jesus is coming into the world!
Waiting can also be difficult, even painful. Again, I find an example of this in my childhood. I think about those days when I got into trouble and my mom would say to me, “Wait until your father gets home!” I was then sent to my room and I had to wait for my father to come home and hand out the punishment.
As adults we call this season Lent – it is the weeks leading up to the crucifixion. It is a somber time. There is nothing exciting or joyful found in Jesus’ journey to the cross. It is a hard time, a bitter time.
Holy week, also called the “Passion,” focuses on the last week of Jesus’ life. It begins on Palm Sunday, moves on to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and finally to Easter Sunday. As I was pondering this year’s holy week, it dawned on me how hard Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (the silent days of Holy Week) must have been on Jesus.
Despite all the acclaim and accolades Jesus got on Palm Sunday, he knew it wouldn’t last. He could see ahead that a cross waited him. How hard it must have been for Jesus to sit through those days and wait for the prophecy of his death to be fulfilled.
But there is also another day of waiting found in Holy Week – it is Saturday. This must have been an excruciating day for the women and disciples. They were feeling the pain of losing someone they deeply AND they saw all the hope they had of God’s kingdom coming into the world, die on the cross as well. It had to have been the worst day of their lives.
We as Christians living in the twenty-first century have a distinct advantage over the women and disciples – we know what will happen the following day. We know that the pain and power of death will be washed away in Jesus’ rising. We know that all is not lost in Holy Week, in fact, the greatest of all hopes is born.
We know what the Apostle Paul proclaimed is true, “Now nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” Nothing!
So as we move into the Wednesday of Holy Week, take the time to be silent and wait for the coming days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Silent Saturday and finally Easter Sunday. Let the waiting be a time of solemn reflection, and then on Easter Sunday, let the gracious love of God, shown in Jesus, fill us with a hope that awaits the future with great excitement.
Jesus will rise! But before Easter, there is a time of waiting in holy reverence.
~ God bless, Dan
Here is our Holy Week Worship Schedule:
April 14: Maundy Thursday –7:00 p.m. at Argyle
Theme: “Can We Be Servants?”
April 15: Good Friday – 1:30 at Apple Grove
7:00 p.m. Yellowstone.
Theme: “Die to Self”
April 17: Easter Sunday – 7:30 a.m. at Argyle and
9:30 a.m. at Yellowstone.
Theme: “The Risen Self