Easter Lilies

Wishing you a blessed and glorious Easter! 
He is Risen Indeed!
 

Via Dolorosa

A friend of mine posted this on his Facebook page:

Walking Via Dolorosa using Google Maps

It's worth checking out!

Holy Saturday

If you've ever wondered about the Paschal candle in your sanctuary...

The flame of the Paschal candle symbolizes Christ as light of the world and his presence in the midst of his people. The Paschal candle is sometimes referred to as the "Easter candle" or the "Christ candle." The term "Paschal" comes from the word Pesach, which in Hebrew means Passover. The tall white candle in many ways signifies the Divine pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that lead the Israelites in their Exodus from slavery in Egypt.

Tools of the trade...

When onlookers sneered "He saved others; He cannot save Himself" they could not see that only because He had never thought of saving Himself could anyone be saved at all. And those who shouted "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" could not see that it was because He was the Son of God that He would not come down.(anonymous)

Mary, the mother

³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2)

Mary knew these words, she heard them shortly after the birth of her baby son. One wonders how ofter she thought of them as He grew. When He started His public ministry, did the thought of them bring fear? He was God's Son, He was God Himself and yet, He was her child. She carried Him in her womb, and while nestled there, He heard the songs she sang, the words she spoke and the constant beat of her heart.

 

Michelangelo's Pieta

²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^[a] here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John 19

Even as He hung there, dying, He thought of her. Can you imagine how she longed to hold Him during those hours? How she ached for Him? Even though she knew He was fulfilling the promise of God, this human mother of the Divine Son could have felt nothing else.

Holy Thursday...

John 13: 1 - 17
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” ⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” ¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. ¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

The Gospel of John is the only one that tells us of the footwashing. Jesus speaks, telling his disciples that he has set an example for them...the example of service to others.

I don't think John brings Jesus' actions to our attention so that we will brag on Jesus for being a thoughtful and compassionate person.  This text in it's self is not so much about actually watching Jesus put his hands on somebody else's feet but about letting Jesus put his hands on our feet. This thought will no doubt make some of you uncomfortable. Although you may attribute it to the "state" of your feet, that's not the real reason. We don't want Him handling our feet because, if we do, we must also allow Him to touch our will. Our feet allow us the freedom of action. Going from point A to point B. We have a hard time turning our "free will" over to someone else...even Jesus. We know that, if He washes us, he may scrub away our closely held insecurities, to wash away our weariness, to buff off our bitterness. It should not be hard for us, He is God after all. If we  don't open ourselves to Jesus cleaning our feet, our story with Him stops as we will have choosen to ignore his admonition to Peter "Unless I wash you, you have no share in me".


If you remember the words from John, you know that just before Jesus sets about His task, He says to His disciples, "Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me." 

So it isn't just Jesus we see taking off his robe and kneeling before us, it is God Himself. Think of your image of the Eternal God. It can be absolutely mind blowing to picture Jesus asking for the honor and privilege of washing our feet. But we must...because in doing so, we agree to accompany Him when His feet walk that long, painful, sacrificial road alone.

Hail Him to Nail Him in a week...

The Sarcastic Lutheran has a thought provoking post concerning Holy Week...

Every year, on this, the first day of Holy Week, as we read about the fickle crowds waving their palms and laying down their cloaks and shouting hosanna in the highest to the guy riding into Jerusalem on a donkey – or a colt, or whatever- an unimpressive animal, and I do, I cringe.  Like I’m just a little bit embarrassed for how sure they seem of themselves and how miserably they are about to fail when put to the test. I hear of the celebration that day and cringe knowing how quickly  the shouts of the fickle crowd go from hail him to nail him. And I think to myself “they are only hailing him as a king because they don’t get it.  They don’t know what’s about to go down, so really, it’s all just empty praise”

That day the multitude of the disciples – the same ones who will deny and abandon him were praising God joyfully with loud voices for the great deeds of power they had seen and they were shouting Hosanna…, and praising God is great but In his famous poem Murder in the Cathedral, TS Elliot said

"Tis the greatest treason to do the right thing for the wrong reason."

Yeah, their triumphant celebration feels regretfully treasonous to those of us who know how this all is about to play out.

Read it all, she makes some excellent points....