Luke 24: 1-53

The Resurrection
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

On the Road to Emmaus
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Ascension
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Eric Youngblood
Rock Creek Fellowship

Waiting when the Sun Refuses to Shine

Luke 23:54-56 “It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”

A stealthily placed phrase in between Friday’s slaughter and Sunday’s resurrection—“but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”

It is noteworthy that the command which we argue most vehemently about and which energizes our most ardent curiosity and wonder (Can I study on Lord’s Day, Can I go out to eat? Can I workout? Can I mow the lawn?) is the one to which these forlorn women, without hesitation, succumbed. Just hours before, the sun had refused to shine. The absence of God was the only apparent guarantee of Friday’s gloomy end.

And yet, they stopped their work. They rested “in obedience to the commandment.” On a day when all their expectation had been crushed, they waited. They stopped what they were doing and waited. Waited on what? We don’t know for sure. We aren’t permitted eavesdropping rights into the thoughts of these women. We do know, however, that for us, each time we choose waiting over working, or waiting as a post- or prelude to working, we wait in a different way.

Every time we choose silence—choose to wait and see what God might do—we do so knowing that resurrection is coming. They didn’t know, and yet still they waited in dark, uncertain obedience. And while they knew there were preparations to be made to the body of the One they adored, they were themselves unwittingly being prepared in their waiting obedience.

Though I didn’t realize it as a college student, and still struggle with the reality of it as a pastor, father, and husband, so much of belonging to Jesus is adopting the vocation of hope. We are those who expect for a living—we wait and yearn for the re-making of all that is sad until it becomes, in Tolkien’s words, “untrue.” Of course we work for these things as well, but cannot do so well unless we have first waited, watched, and learned to see what cannot be seen with eyes.

To adopt this posture, we must remain in the places assigned to us. We must knock-off from our work, our rushing, and even our playing to create the space to believe what we cannot see. We must eliminate hurry and distraction enough so we can actually believe again that God actually does stuff—big stuff, unexpected stuff, surprisingly shocking, resurrection-type stuff! He can incorporate my little work that seems like no-work into the world-mending mosaic that he is weaving together one life at a time. To believe that though, I must learn to wait, to watch, to pray, and to remain.

One of the most counter-cultural things we do as those who expect from God, is to remain in our place. To be in a place. It is the hardest thing to do. It is certainly very easy to be on the way to a place, or to dream about a place where once you were. But to be fully in a place, it is like threading a needle. An almost elusive task sometimes. It requires things.

It requires a certain discipline of the mind and heart, a self-imposed curfew of imagination after which you will not permit your mind to wander. In a sense, you put yourself in a pin. Closing yourself in by commitment and settling down to know well each corner and crevasse of your habitation. You put your thoughts on a leash and give them a good jerk anytime they began meandering in other towns and times. One must decide. By force of will and receptivity of moments, one must choose to watch here and be here and wait here….right in the place you have been put.

The psalmist says, “I wait for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning…”Yes, waiting is our work or at least a critical aspect of it. Waiting is a purposeful holding back. A form of internal leash yanking. It is placing a bit in the mouth of your desires and yanking on the reins when they begin to gallop beyond their place. And since restraint is involved, it is painful. Not perhaps like being stung by a bee, or smacked in the face, but more like the pain of a full bladder. If you don’t get to say or have or do what you feel you must, you just know you’re going to burst!

And I like you, have often felt I might burst. But when I am open to restraining myself, and been restrained in waiting, I learn to take seriously our Master’s word which tells us to give him no rest until he makes peace in Jerusalem. Perhaps we can wait, and expect, and hope together? The women who waited after the gravest injustice on Friday got front row seats to the earth-altering event which helps us now know to call that formerly dark day, Good. May Jesus himself give us front row seats to his astonishing reversals as we, like those Sabbath-keeping women, wait, watch, hope and pray in ways that our world around us will likely never encourage us to do!

Kayb Carpenter Joseph
Associate Professor of Art

Click here for larger image: Grunwald’s Crucifixion Panel
For centuries Christians have commissioned artists to create works of art that draw the viewer into meditation of the acts of God in history. Few representations of the crucifixion are more powerful than Matthais Grunwald’s Crucifixion Panel in the Isenheim Altarpiece. Commissioned between 1508 and 1516 by the Antonite Monestary of Isenheim, this piece was intended to help hospital patients suffering from the painful and incurable disease ergotism meditate on the suffering of Christ. Meditation on the physical pain of their savior was meant to help the patients cope with their own present agony by reminding them of his humanity and that he shared in the same emotional and physical afflictions. Meditation on the crucifixion was intended to remind them of his divinity and the future restoration of their bodies and souls that was accomplished in this moment. Each character in the scene is a part of this narration: Mary fainting into the arms of John, Magdalene offering prayers of desperation, and the anachronistic John the Baptist before the Jordan river pointing to Christ and illuminating for us the words of Paul in Romans 6:3.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

The painter intended his painting to bring the viewer into the drama of the crucifixion and help them understand all that was physically and spiritually accomplished on that day.

I have been drawn to this piece since I first viewed it. Neither before nor since have I seen a work of art so skillfully describe the tension of this moment: the grotesque horror and beauty, the seeming defeat and hope, the absolute humanity and divinity of Christ.

We have grown up in a culture and an age that seems to lack a theology of suffering. We look at suffering as a thing to be avoided and when not avoidable, medicated. We certainly do not look at it as something to be admired, an instrument of sanctification, or the path into which we are called as Christians. In some sense we are aware of the power of suffering, its weight, but the cultural indoctrination of suffering as evil has made us bypass the powerful work it can accomplish in us. Thus, it has been easy for me and, I imagine others, to bypass real meditation on the cross and what it means to be baptized into his death and into a new life. The new life is something we all desire, but we want to bypass death to get there; avoiding the realities of His death and the uncomfortable questions it asks us about our life and our dying to self. I need this painting because it doesn’t “pretty up” the scene by giving me a very peaceful and unblemished Christ perched up on a cross with ease. Instead it requires me to look at the full reality of the moment with all its ugliness and struggle, all its latent hope and promise. This painting takes me into what would have been a confusing, chaotic, bleak day of defeat for his followers. Similar to the moments that I feel when I am able to look suffering in the face, the moments that my fellow brother and sister feel. Yet, the painting doesn’t leave me there, it also shows the promise of the day to come, by showing that hope momentarily concealed is not hope withheld. That love does not shy away from suffering, but rather walks into it. That Christ walked into it for you and me; an unworthy group who would rather avoid suffering than follow in the footsteps of their leader. To which end He proves himself capable of a love that I can scarcely imagine but thirst to know and reveal.

No element of this painting is incidental. Look at this painting carefully, what are the symbols you see present? what do you think the painter is trying to communicate to you through them?

What are the emotions of the people present at the scene? How does the artist communicate these emotions to you? What is he trying to tell you through their emotions about the crucifixion about being follower of Christ?

What does the lacerated and decaying flesh of Christ suggest to you? The bending of the cross beam? The hands of Christ grasping and pulsating with pain?

Have you ever imagined yourself at the crucifixion? Look at this scene, put yourself into this moment? What are you feeling? What are you saying to yourself, to God?

What are the ways that you share in the sufferings of Christ? What are the ways that you allow Christ to share in your sufferings? Do you allow him to share in your sufferings? What are the ways you avoid the sufferings and self denial of Christ? Why?

What do you believe about suffering? Do you try to escape it? Do you punish yourself with it? What do you believe suffering accomplishes? What is mysterious, confusing, and angering about suffering? Why do you think suffering is a method through which God chooses to work in the world?

Do you equate suffering with Love?

What do you think the days between the crucifixion and the resurrection felt like for believers? Do you ever feel the same way? How do you let the hope of new life, and the resurrection and return of Christ to speak into those dark moments?

Kelly M. Kapic
Professor of Theological Studies

Trouble (John 13)

Here we find Jesus, gathered with his disciples in the upper room. They are to celebrate the Passover – they are to eat and drink, to be reminded of God’s deliverance in the past and of his redemptive hand in the present. So they gather.

Jesus sets the stage by washing his disciples’ feet. The Lord is the one who kneels down, his authority expressed in a posture of service, even weakness. This Lord is clearly not like the lords of the nations.

Yet in this scene, in this pregnant moment, as Jesus collects himself after washing their feet, we find Jesus stumble a bit. It is almost as if he is struggling over his words at one point. And then it comes out.

Not all of his disciples are really his, for there is one who will rise up against him. Jesus senses, he knows, that among his disciples there is not only misunderstanding — there is a hidden agenda, a conspiracy waiting to unfold against him. And this one’s tyranny will represent not only his individual sin, but he will represent all of us. Judas, like Adam and Eve long ago, will abandon the gift of communion for the hope of something more —the fruit, the thirty pieces of silver. He will grab, rather than receive.

A shiver runs through Jesus after saying these things to those gathered. Click to continue »

Dr. Kathleen B. Nielson

Matthew 26:14-16, 20-25; Acts 2:23-24

Here’s a question for Wednesday of Holy Week: How do we keep walking, even when it seems evil has the upper hand?  Scripture tells us that Jesus both shows us how and enables us to do so.

Wednesday of Holy Week has sometimes been called “Spy Wednesday,” because it was on this day of the week that Judas went secretly to the chief priests and asked for money in exchange for Jesus.  This stunningly evil action on the part of one of Jesus’ own disciples is embedded sort of matter-of-factly in the text of Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22 – just one momentary dark scene in the drama that flows on around it.    

The narrative flow, which just states the facts and then proceeds, shows us first of all what not to do, when we’re walking along and evil shows up.  We shouldn’t be stunned or stopped by it.  Sometimes evil or oppression threatens to paralyze us with fear, as we see its ugliness or its brazenness or its harm.  In our nation today, some are filled with fear as they watch what seem like godless agendas infiltrating the layers of society; they wonder if God has left us and how we will ever survive – and they tend to feel stricken and helpless, particularly as political clout seems to disappear.  Or, closer to home, some sons and daughters who have experienced the effects of broken marriage and family relationships tend to draw back, hesitating themselves to embrace marriage and children and the challenge of such relationships.  The temptation is to exchange positive movement for paralyzed fear.

But the gospel narrative doesn’t stop, even to exclaim in horror at such an action on Judas’ part.  Jesus himself doesn’t stop.  He doesn’t stop to wring his hands.  He doesn’t stop even to argue with Judas or to defend himself against Judas.  He has a mission, and he is busy with it, busy teaching and working to the end.  

We can find at least two explanations for Jesus’ relentless walking ahead, even threatened with such evil.  First, he understood the sovereignty of God – experienced it first-hand, you might say!  On numerous occasions Jesus declared that Judas would do what he did.  Evil did not surprise Jesus. He knew this world is fallen; that’s why he came.  In Matthew’s next scene, on the following evening of the Passover meal, Jesus said it right out:  “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me” (Matt. 26:23).  Jesus knew God had decreed what was to be, and he walked forward in full obedience to that plan: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him. . .” (Matt. 26:24).  Peter later preaches about “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).  

Not only did Jesus understand and utterly submit to the sovereign plan of his Father; he also knew where that plan led.  For one thing, he understood where evil ends.  Verse 24 concludes: “but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”  Jesus understood that all sin will in the end be punished.  But he also knew that he came to redeem God’s people from sin through his death on the cross.  He came to save us from evil not just around us but within us.  To do that Jesus came to die.  He never stopped walking toward the cross.  Yes, he would weep and agonize, as in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the way.  But that grief would not stop him from walking toward the cross – and the resurrection to follow.  

We can head after him.  Evil should not stop us or paralyze us.  We can be fully assured that nothing surprises the sovereign Lord God.  And he is not only a sovereign God; he is a redeeming God, in and through his Son.  We can keep walking with the cross in view, in fact taking up our cross, because we know that on that cross Jesus died in our place, conquering sin and death.  And we can look even farther, as Jesus did, to the resurrection – and to Jesus’ promised coming again, when the whole story will be complete and all evil will be finally put away. 

The Wednesday of Holy Week can encourage us to keep walking, even through a dark scene that might make us want to stop or draw back.  No part of the story takes God by surprise.  We can follow Jesus through the story, to the cross and beyond, to everlasting life.

Dr. Herb Ward 

Associate Professor of Biblical Studies

Matthew 24-25

 During the time we lived in South Africa, each spring we had a “field day” at the Christian high school that our children attended.  Everyone had to participate – and those running the race lined up on the starting line (many running barefoot as South Africans often do), and listened for the starter’s voice:  “Ready, Steady, GO!” The gun fired and off they went!  The final event of the afternoon was a 100 meter “Dad’s Race”.   I had been watching the races all day and chatting with other parents.  One of my best friends walked up and said “Are you going to run?”  I had no intention of running until he looked and me and said:  “Are you scared?”  I had run track in high school and thought that I could easily handle the field of Dads running in the race.  So, I went to the start line, heard the words “ready, steady, go”, and ran like the wind for about the first 20 meters.  I hadn’t trained for the race and I wasn’t ready for it – I pulled a hamstring, and could barely walk for weeks.  My failure to prepare had cost me dearly.

 On the Tuesday of Passion Week, Jesus spends the morning avoiding traps set by the Pharisees.  Later that afternoon, he teaches his disciples on the Mount of Olives in what has become known as the “Olivet Discourse” found in Matthew 24 & 25 (cf. Mark 11-13, and Luke 20-21).  In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus warns his disciples against the Pharisees, predicts the destruction of the Temple and predicts the events that must take place before his return.  Unlike the movie 2012 (in which John Cusack’s character is able to predict apocalyptic events based on the Mayan calendar), Jesus stresses that no-one knows the day or the hour except the Father, not even the Son (24:36).  While there are signs that point to imminent events (the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70), and signs that point more generally to the “last days” (“wars and rumors of wars”), the real focus is on being ready when Jesus returns.  So, he tells a series of parables intended to drive home the point, including the Parable of the Householder and the Thief (Matt 24:43-44), the Faithful & Unfaithful Servants (Matt 24:45-47 and 48-51), and the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. 

 In the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like the story of the Ten Virgins or bridesmaids.  In the world of first century Palestine, it was customary for a processional to escort the couple to the bridegroom’s home for a feast, with torches lighting the way.  It was the responsibility of all of the bride’s attendants to have sufficient oil to keep the torches burning for an unspecified period of time.  In the narrative that Jesus relates, there are five “wise” bridesmaids, and five “foolish” ones.  Both groups are identical except with respect to the preparations they make for the coming of the bridegroom.  All of them fall asleep (as the bridegroom’s arrival is delayed).  At midnight, the cry rings out (25:6): “Look!  Here is the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him”.  The five foolish bridesmaids recognize their mistake and beg their sisters for oil.  But the “wise” bridesmaids refuse and instruct them to go and buy oil (which was practically impossible at that time of night).   While they are gone to buy oil, the bridegroom arrives to claim his bride, and all proceed to the wedding feast.  When the “foolish” bridesmaids finally arrive, it is too late – they are shut out of the wedding supper, and the bridegroom says “Truly, I tell you, I do not know you”.  Then Jesus gets to the point and says to his disciples:  “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13). 

 The point of the parable is that the disciples were to “keep watch” and “be prepared” for Jesus’ return.  They must count the cost of following Jesus, and persevere in their discipleship.  Note that the five “foolish” bridesmaids did not lose their salvation.  Rather, their lack of preparedness demonstrates that they were never his, even though they professed to know him.  Like the bridegroom, the Lord may delay his return longer than most expect.  As his disciples, we must be ready for such a delay – and recognize that following Jesus may cost us more than we expect.  And sadly, those who fail to prepare for his return, may find that there is a point beyond which it is too late. 

 How does all of this apply to us during Holy week?  Simply this – do we truly believe that on Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, and that he later ascended into heaven where he now reigns & rules over all of creation?  Are we living each day in the confident expectation of his return?  If so, then we are called to “think different” about each day of our lives – to see all of our activities, conversations, and the events of each day from an eternal perspective.  As C S Lewis has noted, today is the only day we can be certain of, in which we can worship & serve the Lord and love our brothers & sisters in Christ.  This Easter Season, let’s get ready for the Lord’s return!

Questions:

1.  What would it look like to live each day in expectation that Jesus is coming again? 

2.  How could you love or serve your brothers & sisters today, in practical ways, for Jesus’ sake?  

Christiana Fitzpatrick

Chapel Department

 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. Mark 11:12-14, 20-21

Jesus was flesh and blood. On his morning walk from Bethany to Jerusalem, he wanted to eat. Jesus got hungry. He wasn’t pretending to be hungry just to make a point to his disciples. Often I forget that Jesus felt hunger pangs and emotions, that he grew weary, and that his feet were dirty after a long day of walking. Jesus knew what it meant to be fully human. As the author of Hebrews says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” In this, the final week of his life, with reminders all around him of his human weakness, feeling the full weight of the betrayal, pain and God-forsakenness that was to come, he continued to walk in obedience. 

I conveniently forget Jesus’ humanity, because I want to think my emotions, my pains, my challenges are different, radically different, from his. Do you ever do this? Do you isolate yourself from others and from God by telling yourself that no one will understand, no one has felt what you are feeling. Jesus has. He was tempted in every way—another version of the Hebrews passage says: “no temptation came to him except that which is common to man.” Common. We want to see our temptations as UNCOMMON. Jesus says, “No!” to that lie. He says, “I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was tempted, I was deserted, I was alone, I was betrayed, I was rejected.” 

Do you realize Christ’s humanity? Yes, he had to be human to bear our punishment, to die for us, but he also had to be human to live for us. He walked in perfect obedience, saying “No” to every temptation, using the same resources we have: the Word, prayer, communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was perfect, because we are not. 

But, in his humanity, he understands our weakness. He understands the physical and emotional hunger. He understands desertion by friends and family. He understands what it means to learn to obey through suffering. More than anyone who has ever lived, Jesus understood that obedience and submission to God do not lead to a life of ease and security. His submission led him to suffering and death and separation from God the Father. He submitted and obeyed so we would never have to experience that final death and separation. 

We, too, learn obedience through suffering. It is the way of the Christian life. In the midst of temptation and our failures, as we rely on the resources given to us: the word, prayer, the power of the Spirit, the community of believers, we begin to see that saying yes to God is deeply rewarding. Not rewarding in the sense of making life easy, or eliminating challenges, or bringing us success. But rewarding in a growing knowledge that the triune God is enough. That He knows our weakness, that He sacrificed and died for our sin, and that He walks with us in our suffering. He is with us. He is for us.

Gary Purdy

Pastor, North Shore Fellowship

Passion of the King
Mark 11:1-11

We live in a culture that expects a lot of our leaders. We demand that they come through for us. When they don’t – we critique them mercilessly and intensify our demands. But what if the leader we want is not the leader we need? Let’s consider the kind of leader Jesus is as he is welcomed into Jerusalem on what has become known as Palm Sunday.

Read Mark 11:1-11

Jesus enters the city on a donkey.
What kind of leader is Jesus portrayed as with this image?

The people cry out, “Hosanna,” which means “deliver us now!”
What does their cry show about what the people expect of Jesus?

How did he disappoint their expectations?

How would he fulfill them?

Jesus is a leader with power to save who comes in weakness. He doesn’t ride on a white horse but a donkey. He brings the kingdom of David in the name of the Lord but loses his life in the process. Jonathan Edwards suggests that we worship Jesus when we see how he is “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.” That is, when we see the paradox about Jesus, it moves our hearts toward Him.

How does this image of Jesus coming in power and weakness move you to worship Him?

How does this portrayal of Jesus say about your disappointed expectations of Jesus?

How does this portrayal give you hope that he will ultimately deliver you?

Covenant College
Holy Week Devotional
2010

Holy Week. Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. The Triumphant Entry, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion. The Resurrection. Such significant days in the story of our Christian heritage, yet so often we just see it as one more week to get through.

We know that you as college students are exhausted. You have papers to write, projects to finish, events to attend and friendships to maintain. And doesn’t it feel like your life is full of noise? You have iPods, cell phones, Facebook statuses, e-mails, blogs, Pandora radio stations and so much stuff being thrown at you every day. When was the last time that you were really able to be quiet and rest in the presence of the Lord?

We want to challenge you to make this Holy Week different. Turn off the noise. Seek silence. What are the things in your life that are distracting you from the Lord? Give them up—even if it’s just for this one week. Be honest with yourself about what you need to surrender.

But as you remove these distractions from your life, be intentional with the void that is left. Pray. Fast. Dig into the Word. Sing. Worship. To help guide your Holy Week reflections, we have compiled daily devotionals from valued members of our community—pastors, professors, mentors, friends. Learn from their wisdom and apply their lessons to your life.

Don’t let this be one more week to get through. Give it to the Lord and let Him make it something special. Make it a Holy Week.

Today, after chapel, we’re providing our students with a devotional booklet to take them through the Holy Week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. I’ll post these daily devotionals, written by members of the Covenant community and several local pastors.