Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - Holy Week
                The Lenten Journey - The Road Less Travelled

"All of them deserted him and fled." Mark 14:50, New Revised Standard Version)

        Many years ago, I recall watching a documentary on one of the mega churches in the United States. It was bulging at the seams at several of their Sunday worship services. It was revealed  that the church's policy was not to preach or teach about the Cross to new comers or seekers as the leaders feared that such a horrific story would be a turn-off or a deterrent to them in their faith walk. They wanted to keep things more spiritually positive and uplifting than scare them off with the story of Jesus' terrible death. It was not that they didn't affirm the forgiveness of sin through Jesus' Crucifixion but it was a story for more mature Christians.

     There is something indeed awful about the story of Holy Week (as well as awe-ful), especially  Good Friday. "But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten  so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed." (Isaiah 53:5, New Living Translation) This is a challenging story for any of us, despite its familiarity and even though we know the ultimate outcome - the Resurrection.

        It is indeed tempting to avert our eyes, to be like the disciples who absented themselves from the actual day of the Crucifixion and who, in fact, fled and abandoned Jesus at the first opportunity when the going got tough and risky. There is a host of Christians  who will avoid Good Friday services and then show up on Easter Sunday. There are those who are aghast that God would resort to allowing the death of his only son, even to save humankind. This is a strange, disturbing story, full of betrayal, denial, failure, lies and brutality, ending up in Jesus' execution, nailed on a Roman Cross. At first glance, there is nothing "Good" about  Good Friday.

It would be only human to want to turn our backs on such a grizzly scene and flee. Perhaps, it is so that we are not accused  of being a troublemaker or associated with his man, to avoid the same fate. Perhaps, like Peter once did, we think that this is an absurd plan for the Messiah and want no part of it, especially when it seems to be going so badly. Perhaps, it shatters our hopes and instills fear and doubt in our hearts. The disciples could not see past the immediate moment of Jesus' arrest, sensing only that it was going to end badly and they fled for their lives. In the face of Jesus'  Crucifixion, what do you want to do? Don't run to Easter Sunday until you face how you react to Good Friday, The two are inseparable.

A couple of verses later than our text, we read how one follower, (scholarship thinks it may have been Mark himself), was grabbed by the mob as he fled. He broke away from them by unrobing and we're told that he "ran away naked" (Mark 14:52) The story of Holy week leaves us exposed to the painful reality of our humanity. Remember Adam's words to God, "I heard you (God) walking in the garden, so I hid because I was naked." (Genesis 3:10) It reveals our sinful pride and our lostness and faithlessness. It reminds us that we are not perfect by a long shot. It lays bare our weaknesses and frailties. That is tough news to take, to face head on,  to accept. we run and hide.

But there is indeed Good News in the Crucifixion if we are willing to watch, learn and experience it fully. "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned but he died for sinners  to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit." (1Peter 3:18)  every sinful thing we have ever done, said our even thought, however morally we have failed, every hurt we have caused others, every time we have tripped up, fled away or bared our fears, Christ takes to the Cross, nails our transgressions with him, and gives us a whole new opportunity to take the road less travelled - not one of  fear and shame but the road of trust, faith and discipleship.

"The message of the cross is foolish to those headed or destruction. But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Dale

Wednesday, April 9, 2025 – Lent Six

                The Lenten Journey: The Road less Travelled

 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51, New Revised Standard version)

            No one ever really wants to face, head-on, the risks, perils and upsets in life. This is not to say there are no remarkable tales of courage, tenacity and perseverance in the face of calamity and tragedy. It can be amazing how some people respond to hard times and difficult situations. Regardless, I know there have been times when I have wilted under difficult circumstances. I wanted to flee and escape what was ahead. I prayed for rescue or relief or some intervention that would take the problems away. I wanted to avoid what was wrong. I wanted to pull the covers over my head and pretend that all was well with my world.

But it wasn’t going well. The problems weren’t vanishing despite my earnest prayers and pleas. One of the biblical verses which has always challenged me comes from Corinthians: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 13:10) I have tried to hang on to that promise as best I can, both for myself and in my pastoral care of others. But sometimes, it is easier to slip into the painfully honest language of the Psalms: “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?” (Psalm 13:1)

In the horrid circumstances  which  awaited Jesus in the days ahead, Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem.” It is not like that he wasn’t aware of what was going to happen there. “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.” (Luke 9: 44) He understood the types of betrayal, anguish, suffering and demeaning death he would experience. Even so, he sets his sights on the road ahead to Jerusalem and that destiny.

It has never struck me that Jesus had a martyr complex. We hear his anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death…. My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.” (Matthew 26: 38, 39) We hear his cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46) It leads me to believe that Jesus experienced fear and trepidation about the road less travelled to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he set his face to go to Jerusalem, to walk ahead on this road which God has mapped out for him: “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Those are tough words in the face of threats, obstacles and hard challenges or even death itself. Sometimes, we may think that Jesus knew the final results (Resurrection) and that somehow made it more palatable or easier to undertake this journey to death. But that would make Jesus less than fully human. Yes, he had indomitable courage but he also demonstrated his vulnerable humanity in very real ways.

“Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.  It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.” (Hebrews 2: 14- 18, The Message Bible)

         Jesus identifies fully with our human nature so we may identify with him in his ultimate act of sacrifice on our behalf. It is this relationship between Jesus and us that becomes “the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”  His courage, his strength, his endurance, his obedience, his perseverance, his vulnerability are passed on to us through the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t take away our pain, suffering and hardship but it redeems us in the midst of them. It promises us that there is more yet in this story than pain and suffering. “But everyone who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:33)

                Whatever the road that you are currently on, know this: “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8) 

Dale