As I celebrated Holy Week, I found myself pondering the same things that I seem to do each year. There is almost a “real time” anticipation of the events that transpired over 2000 years ago. I meditate and imagine what the week must have been like. I imagine the lingering excitement from Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the great hope that gripped the hearts of the crowd. I imagine the celebration as the crowds gathered for the Passover. But I also imagine the thoughts that must have been going through the disciple’s minds in the upper room and on Golgotha. Messiah had finally come! The Roman yoke of oppression was just about to be cast off and Jesus was going to lead the way! "Hosanna!" But then things begin to radically change and unravel with the washing of some dirty feet and the eating of a meal.
Hearts began to sink. Anxiety levels escalated. Tears formed. It appeared to be the end of the line. Jesus had been arrested and beaten. He was rejected by the same people who celebrated his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And finally, He was nailed to a cross, breathed His last breath and said, "It is finished." He died. Finished? He was taken down from the cross and buried. From all practical perspectives, it was over, and as Jesus' disciples gathered together on that Sabbath before the Resurrection, the pain, fear and grief must have been overwhelming. Was it really finished? Holy Saturday did not carry with it the anticipation, preparation and joy that it does for us today. For them, it appeared that there was nothing to look forward to, except the same possible fate that met their friend. "Jesus is dead! And we're next! You're going to get your wish, Peter! Believe what you want, Thomas! But you're doubting ass will be hanging on a cross by sundown!"
"Where did things go wrong?”, they must have thought have thought. “How did we misinterpret what Jesus had been telling us over the last three years”?, they must have asked themselves. “Were we totally misled?” “Are we all fools?” “Was our mission with Jesus a complete failure?” FAIL! Their feet were clean, but their minds were cloudy as they waited. The anxiety must have felt like the weight of the world. Fear. Rejection. Anger. Confusion. All of these emotions must have been running wild as they mourned the death of their Rabbi. Their leader. Their friend. From the view of the world, this must have appeared to be the perfect failure.
Well, you know the rest of the story and time doesn’t permit me to go on and on with the thoughts that flood my mind this morning, but I encourage you to ponder these things as well for one very simple reason. There appears to be two sides to this story, as with every story. One side tells us that this was in fact, a perfect failure. This side leaves Jesus in His tomb and leaves the disciples defeated, broken, dejected, afraid and probably eventually dead. The other side of the story is victorious. Renewal. Transformation. Resurrection power. The power that took these eleven broken men that cowered in fear, and used them to transform the world. He is risen! This was not a perfect failure, but complete victory!
But the question is, are we living our lives in view of the second side of the story? Or do we live our lives from the first? Do we cower in the upper room, absorbed with grief? Defeated? Isolated? Alone? He is risen, and if he is truly risen, then we rise with Him. Live in the resurrection, as you are resurrected! Be resurrected today! All things are new, my friends! All things are new!