SoulThirst

This week my blog will have devotionals on Passion Week, leading up to Easter Sunday. Read and take what you will- or pass it up. These are humble offerings, and I don’t pretend that there is deep wisdom here. I pray only that this leads you to think more of Christ this Holy Week. Soli Deo Gloria

Passion Week.
Despite all modern definitions of “passion,” the original meaning of “passion” meant “suffering.” Talking about the passion of Jesus had little to do with strong emotions or individual devotion- it had much more to do with the sufferings of Christ in the final week of His life. Similarly, our “passion” for Jesus ought not be defined by strong emotions that we have- or do not have- for him. This is a week of strong emotions- especially for Jesus’ disciples- yet we all know the fickle nature of our emotions. I believe, more accurately, that passion week is a time to consider both the sufferings of Jesus for our sake- as well as the sufferings we are willing (or unwilling) to endure for His.

The sufferings of Jesus are not easy to behold. Philip Yancey and Richard John Neuhaus both comment on the contemporary church’s desire to “move past” Good Friday and hurry on to Easter. Nobody wants to spend too much time thinking about Jesus suffering, being crucified, and dying. It’s depressing, morbid… we much rather consider Easter and the joy of resurrection. Nobody likes to think about Jesus on the cross- it’s much “happier” to picture Jesus in glory in heaven. Some churches don’t like a Good Friday Service that is “depressing”- they want to focus instead on the “good news of the cross”… and there’s nothing wrong with that. Except that, in my opinion, it robs some of the “punch” of Easter- there’s little contrast.

We don’t like to think about our sin either- we move rather quickly to say “Jesus forgave our sin! Praise God!” It makes us uncomfortable for any pastor or teacher to dwell on the issue of sin; we don’t like to think about our own sin- the many ways we sin, the insult of our sin to God, and the punishment sin deserves. It’s not good for building up good self-esteem; we don’t want to feel down about ourselves- and so we ignore the “mess” of our lives, or at least move speedily past it. Yet here’s the rub- unless there is Good Friday, there is no Easter. Unless we’ve considered our sin, there’s no considering forgiveness.

For most of us, “Jesus forgiving me” is a pithy Sunday School answer, but it means very little- some of you perhaps wonder why that truth feels so “ordinary”… almost boring. Consider this: the depth to which you are aware of your sin is the corresponding height to which you experience the good news of God’s forgiveness. Most of the people in the gospel stories that REALLY experienced forgiveness were people who knew how completely sinful they are- tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, etc. They had no “good self-esteem” to speak of- and yet when Jesus found them, their joy was all the more greater.

I invite you this week to be willing to face the “mess” in your life- to come face to face with your sins and the darkness in your heart. It won’t be pleasant, and you might not feel all that great about yourself in the process- and yet in the process you might find yourself identifying with these words: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. But when those very words are lifted up to Jesus- how swift and sweet will be realization that from those very depths, Jesus has met you and lifted you up.

What areas of “mess” in my life am I in need of Jesus?

Do my emotions for Jesus- and professions of faith for him- include a willingness to suffer alongside with him, to experience His “passion”?

posted by Andy Chang @ 11:35 PM