Limping to the Cross
Holy Week should have us all struggling to take another step
This is Holy Week: The days between Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Lamb Selection Sunday and his ultimate triumph over the grave. While it begins and ends in glory, there is so much pain and suffering in this week.
Monday: Jesus’ cleanses the temple. Flipping over tables and driving out the money changers.
Tuesday: Jesus’ speaks with his followers about the days to come on the Mount of Olives.
Wednesday: Judas and the Sadducees’ plots against Jesus are put into play.
Thursday: Jesus and his disciples share their last meal, and He is betrayed.
Friday: Death.
Saturday: Darkness.
Sunday: The darkness gives way to an empty tomb.
A week that for any of us, even without being crucified, would have us reeling; our world turned on end. A week, for any of us, that we have lived through. We’ve all felt the sting of betrayal, the righteous anger against others for their treatment of personal spaces and those less fortunate, and the shock of death knocking at the door.
It is okay to feel overwhelmed, the waves of one thing after another crashing over our head. Leaving us struggling for a moments breath, a moments peace, amidst the absolute chaos and darkness that is this world. As my friend
said in her recent writings:“It’s okay to sit in silence.
It’s okay to mourn.
It’s okay to grieve.
It’s okay to question.
It’s okay to ask “what? why? how?”
It’s okay to say “I don’t understand.”
It’s okay to come down off the adrenaline rush before moving on.
It’s okay to pause.”
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.
You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.
John 16:33
Yes, Jesus has conquered death.
Yes, His death was in exchange for our life.
Yes, Sunday is coming, but we still have to walk through the days before it.
We still have to walk all the days that are set before us, from this one unto the last. We will suffer. We will experience devastation and hardships. We will have seasons of suffering and overwhelming existence. That is why we need Jesus, because with Him, with His saving gift, we know that there is, at the very least, Peace at the end of the road.
For today, and every day between now and then, it’s okay to be in the struggle, to feel the overwhelming devastation that this world wreaks upon us. That struggle doesn’t negate the joy of Easter morning. Easter morning gives the struggle purpose, it gives us hope that the struggle is not all there is to our existence.
It gives us the strength to know that when that struggle grows too great we aren’t carrying it alone, that when we need a break, Jesus is there holding the load for us until we are ready to shoulder it again.
Yes, we should all be struggling to step forward. What we are about to receive is an incredible gift. The weight of which should leave us burdened, struggling to move forward. We are being handed a Kingship with the Almighty, Creator of all existence. Something we absolutely do NOT deserve. We are being given purpose for all the things we will experience in this life, always pointing to the Cross and its redemption.
Let us pray.
O God, who for our redemption didst give thine only-begotten Son to the death of the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection hast delivered us from the power of our enemy; Grant us so to die daily from sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through the same thy Son Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Easter Day Collect - The Book of Common Prayer, 1929
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!
This article is written by Jessica M. White: Wife. Mom of 5. Seeker of God's Truth and Beauty. Drinker of ink, baker of chocolate chip cookies, lover of words and learning. Not what you're expecting.
Amen and amen!