Siblings in Christ, For the past several weeks we have been journeying together, leaning into the hope that comes from the promises of God. I’m thankful for the fact that we’ve been able to walk this journey together. As we enter into the Great Three Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Saturday, however, it’s important to remember that though we are called to hope, we live in a world that is still confronted with despair, doubt, and grief. As Jesus has walked his path from Galilee to Jerusalem and now toward the cross, we are given a chance to pause and acknowledge that even God in Jesus Christ has had reason to feel the anguish of our world. Jesus felt the fear of his impending betrayal, the hurt at knowing that someone that he loved and trusted would betray him. He knew from the moment he entered Jerusalem that conflict with the religious authorities and Roman occupiers was inevitable, and scripture tells us he knew that the events of this week would result in his death on a cross.
Matthew 26:36-46 tells us that Jesus – though he was from God and declared his own impending resurrection – was not eager to undergo the trials that he was about to face. He asked God the Father to allow the cup to pass from him. Jesus was anxious. Jesus felt fear, and perhaps even a little doubt. And yet, even though he experienced these doubts, Jesus ultimately remained obedient to the will of God to see the path he was on through to the end.
As people of faith, we know the rest of the story. We know that even though he dies on the cross, Jesus is raised on the third day, and we are once again looking forward to the day where we can proclaim the risen Christ with shouts of joy. So as we have leaned into the hope of the resurrection throughout our Lenten journey, we’re tempted to skip past the feelings of anxiety and loss that come with these next few days to more quickly feel the resurrection joy of Easter morning. But as Christ abides with us still, we are invited to abide in these moments as well. We are invited to be still and experience sorrow and loss, recognizing that Jesus also experienced these things.
Beloved, our world is a challenging place right now. There’s uncertainty at the gas pump and the grocery store, fear of escalation of our the current conflicts our nation finds itself engaged in, and that doesn’t even begin to address the changing circumstances many of us face in our personal lives. Truth be told, I think we all have a little bit of a desire to pretend that the things in our world that produce these anxieties and stresses do not exist, or at the very least don’t really affect us. We’d rather ignore the now for the promised future that we hope is coming soon. After all, we’re an Easter people. We know there’s a future with hope. But like Jesus this Holy Week, we can’t skip the hard stuff. We can’t skip the challenging stuff to try to rush to our hoped for outcome, because it’s quite possible the hard stuff is what helps us find real joy – not just for ourselves but for others – that lasts beyond this season.
It’s for this reason I invite you to join us in worship for our Holy Week services. I invite you to abide in Jesus’ journey to the cross. We have a savior who did not avoid the hard things, and perhaps it’s these hard things that help us more fully appreciate the grace that we’ve been given. It is in these hard things that Christ abides wholly in the human experience. Now we can abide with him.
So today, if you’re feeling like life is harder than it needs to be, know that Christ walks with you in the struggles. If you’re anxious and afraid for what is coming next in our nation and world, know that Jesus knows this anxiousness, and modeled trust in God the Father to see him through to the unknown that was the grave and resurrection hope. If the specter of the grave seems all encompassing for any reason, know that Jesus too faced the grave, and then defeated it. Today, abide in the knowledge that Christ is with you. And so as Christ abides in you, abide in the holiness of these last days of Lent. Walk this sacred journey alongside Christ, who accompanies us through the darkest of night into the brightness of Easter joy to come.
Pastor Chris Heller