How has your week been? Under the usual juggling of work, family and personal needs has there been a sense of some deeper significance? Maybe you’ve recognised it – the truth that this is the most important week of the year. Maybe you have shared in special times of worship to remember the events that happened two millennia ago. This is Holy Week – when we reflect on the suffering of Jesus.
But, what makes this week important is not the remembering, nor the understanding we might gain. This week is what theologian Marcus Borg calls a “thin place” - a place where the ‘line’ between spiritual and physical realities grows thin. It is an opportunity for us not just to remember Jesus, but to encounter him. It is a moment when the stories we read can become our own lived experience. If we allow this week to do its work, everything can change.
For Jesus, the cross was not something he went through alone. We celebrate that Jesus “died for us”, offering us life, forgiveness and the hope of heaven, but there is more to it than that. Peter says it this way:
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21 NIV).
This is a disturbing thought, but until we embrace our own crosses, we are not yet followers of Christ. Perhaps we can explore three ways this challenges us.
FORGIVING
We know that Jesus’ dying words of forgiveness were for us. We also know that Jesus calls us to forgive, although we all find excuses when it gets too hard. But, Jesus doesn’t ever limit forgiveness. He was betrayed by a close friend, and disowned by another. All but a few (mostly women) ran away when he was arrested, and even people he had taught and healed called for his execution. Yet, Jesus never utters a word of condemnation. Whatever pain others have inflicted on you, the cross calls you to the liberating work of forgiving.
NOT JUSTIFYING
Do you have a compulsive need to justify yourself? Do you work really hard to explain to others why you are right? It’s natural to do this, but it breaks down relationships, because in making ourselves right, we make others wrong. Jesus refused to do this. In spite of the accusations he remains silent, allowing his life to speak for itself. Perhaps this week you can try to let your life speak for you, and give up the quest to justify.
BEING KIND
I am always deeply moved by Jesus’ kindness in the midst of his own pain. He has the compassion to speak kind words to a dying thief beside him. He has the kindness to commend his grieving mother to the care of John, his beloved disciple. This challenges me to refuse to use my pain as an excuse for unkindness. Rather, I am challenged to make a new commitment to compassion.
As we reflect on Jesus’ suffering this week, we can open our hearts and embrace the cross, not just as something Jesus did for us, but as something he calls us to do for him and others. And if we can make the commitment to follow Jesus’ sacrificial example, our worship, this week, really will change everything.
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.
Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.