Good Monday morning...

 

… because I treat “every Sunday as Easter and everyday as Sunday” what am I to do with Easter Sunday?  That is a fair question, and my answer to myself is to stay faithful.  The reason for celebrating every Sunday as Easter is actually an acknowledgement of an ancient tradition of the early church, moving their weekly meetings for worship to Sundays in honor of the resurrection of Jesus.  Pretty simple.  My new quip, “treating every day as Sunday” is another call to faithfulness that my faith in Jesus informs everything I do, each and every day.  Again, simple, but what about the significance of “Holy Week”?

Special days, in my experience, have become too commercial for my taste.  It’s not that I have anything against the marketing of stuff, I just don’t participate with much enthusiasm.  But the flip side of my argument has to do with the teaching of the significance of the events of Holy Week… Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday.  That marked the day that Jesus sent His disciples into the city of Jerusalem to secure a colt of a donkey, on which He road into the city with the shouts and cheers of everyone, “Hosanna in the highest” and praised the coming of a king… fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey.  And it happened that way.  Of course, in short order, those cheers turned into the shouts for the death of Jesus, “Crucify Him”!

Maundy Thursday, from the Latin word for “command”, reminds us of the event when Jesus gathered His disciples for the meal and washed their feet, issuing a new command, that they love one another.  He set the example for servant leadership.  Some churches still have a foot washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday.

Good Friday, as you know, is the day on which Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  The brutality of crucifixion is terrible and causes one to wonder why “Good” Friday.  But the good is the completion of the mission, for the sinless son of God to take the sins of all humankind, and as our substitute, die on the cross with the curse of our condemnation.  For us, this is very good!

Holy Saturday is rather obscure, and in my experience, has never been formally recognized.  Its recognition is of the day spent in the tomb, after His death.  Peter makes mention of the victory lap Jesus took during that time between His death and resurrection to include His descent into the depths of hell, also known as the “harrowing of hell.”

Easter Sunday, the granddaddy of all holidays!  That’s because He rose from the dead, claiming victory over death.  Perhaps I am too childlike in my enthusiasm for celebrating every Sunday as Easter Sunday, but I cannot help it!  Happy Easter!!!

For His glory,

Pastor Mike