Holy Week.
Get all the info for this week: mtolivestpaul.org/easter
This is a big week! It’s a week that is often heightened because we can be with so many fellow believers and share the same message: “He is risen, He is risen indeed!”
I have no doubt that we will still echo that victory cry, but the response may not be as voluminous as in the past. Still this does not diminish the formidable truth that we have a Savior who forfeited everything in order to bring us safely home to be with the Heavenly Father. If nothing else, our social distancing might help us better understand, even in a small—very small way—how alone Jesus felt when he suffered under the weight of our sin in order to bring us home.
Holy week starts with Jesus fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy.
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. // Zechariah 9:9
Jesus tasks two of his disciples with finding him an equine ride into Jerusalem. That ride had to be a fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy for several reasons. One, Jesus is perfect and must perfectly keep all of God’s Word. Two, the reason for Zechariah’s prophecy was to raise our awareness for a different type of king. Our Messiah would be a king riding on a donkey and not on a powerful war steed. His power is veiled in gentleness. Our Messiah would be fighting a fight that is bigger than any earthly war but his weaponry comes in the form of sacrificing himself. The donkey and her colt help us to see this even better.
Many were hoping Jesus would be a warrior who would strike the Romans a fatal blow and return political power to the Jews. But instead the Romans would put him to death in five short days. Was Jesus surprised that his triumphant ride into Jerusalem did not end in a military victory? What did Jesus expect from this socially and politically and religiously charged week in the city of Jerusalem? The colt and her foal give us some indication.
On the back of a donkey there are some distinctive marks. Zebras are known for their stripes, pandas for their black and white patches. Donkeys are quietly silent in the marks they wear: two dark streaks running from mane to tail and from one front shoulder to the other. What would Jesus have seen as the crowds cheered his arrival? Jesus would have welcomed their shouts of “Hosanna” and known that by Friday their shouts would call for his death. Jesus knew because he had been predicting this sin-shattering event for three years to his unsuspecting disciples. And on that first Palm Sunday, the mother and her foal were physical reminders of the kind of death that would bring us life: the cross.
Donkeys young and old have the mark of the cross on their backs. Your king comes to you, riding on a donkey. He’s gentle and yet victorious because of the cross. His conquering might is displayed in his death.
This week, as we take that journey to the cross and stand with the witnesses of that first Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Let’s remember what it was that took him to the cross and to the grave. Our King chose to go that route because he looked forward to the joy of being reunited with us one day. We are ”fixing our eyes on Jesus, . . . [who] for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” // Hebrews 12:2.
What this week will look like for us:
In order to fix our eyes on Holy Jesus, we will be talking about [and making] Matzah Bread this Thursday. (Click here for a video of me showing you how to make.) Matzah is yeastless bread that is representative of Jesus’ sinless body. This bread is beaten and kneaded, it is crushed and stretched out in order to make it thin. This stretched out yeastless bread is then pierced and seared in an intense roasting heat. All of this shows us what Jesus was going to endure as the sinless Son of God. He would be…
pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. // Isaiah 53:5
Jesus endured the fire of God’s wrath, and by this sacrifice we are now eternally free from the wrath of a just and holy God.
On Good Friday, Jesus goes forth as the Great High Priest. Each High Priest wore a placard that read, “Holy to the LORD.” Holy means perfect but it also has the meaning of “completely dedicated to” the LORD. We will be seeing Jesus completely dedicated to the Father’s will of dying on Good Friday. Making Resurrection Cookies with your family Saturday night will give everyone a chance to experience just a hint of what Jesus went through.
Easter Sunday brings us the great news that the sting of death is now broken. In triumph, our Savior will crack open the kingdom of heaven and eternal life on Easter Sunday morn.
Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise Yahweh. This is the gate of Yahweh, through which the righteous shall enter. // Psalm 118:19-20