Holy Saturday/Easter Vigil

What happens to Jesus between Good Friday and Easter morning? 

Some clues from 1 Peter:

Christ died once for our sins.

An innocent person died for those who are guilty.

Christ did this to bring you to God,

when his body was put to death

and his spirit was made alive.

¹⁹ Christ then preached to the spirits that were being kept in prison. ²⁰ They had disobeyed God while Noah was building the boat, but God had been patient with them. Eight people went into that boat and were brought safely through the flood.

²¹ Those flood waters were like baptism that now saves you. But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death.             –1 Peter 3:18-21 (CEV)

Christ suffered here on earth. Now you must be ready to suffer as he did, because suffering shows that you have stopped sinning. ² It means you have turned from your own desires and want to obey God for the rest of your life. ³ You have already lived long enough like people who don't know God. You were immoral and followed your evil desires. You went around drinking and partying and carrying on. In fact, you even worshiped disgusting idols. ⁴ Now your former friends wonder why you have stopped running around with them, and they curse you for it. ⁵ But they will have to answer to God, who judges the living and the dead. ⁶ The good news has even been preached to the dead, so that after they have been judged for what they have done in this life, their spirits will live with God.            –1 Peter 4:1-6 (CEV)

The Church created the Vigil of Easter as a time to contemplate all that God has done, since the beginning of Creation, to restore us to the fullness of love and life that was intended all along.

It’s a time to celebrate the passage from darkness to light, from death to life, to tell the stories of God’s persistent, unrelenting love for us, to baptize and/or renew our baptism, and then to share the meal that gives Christ’s life to us over and over until we are fully reunited at his coming again.

What a holy night! -- P/T

Good Friday

“Jesus died for our sins.”

What does that mean?  How do you explain it to yourself...let alone anyone else?

 (Take a moment and write your thoughts.)

Take some time and imagine Jesus going to the cross...looking at you....  What would he say to you?

Would you be willing to die for someone else?

Our men & women in the military know that they may have to put their lives on the line for their brothers and sisters in uniform...for you and me.

Peter and the disciples spoke forcefully that none of them would betray or deny Jesus... yet we know that each one of them did just that.

We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. ⁸  But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.             –Romans 5:7-8 (The Message)

Does Jesus ‘work’ for you?  What does it mean to you that you are loved that much? -- P/T

Maundy Thursday

The Exodus and the Passover Seder loom large in the imagination and experience of Israel...to this day.  They are “defining moments” in the history of God’s people.

Jesus’ last meal is the Passover with his disciples.  It is a meal rich with imagery that corresponds to Jesus work in ‘saving’ or salvaging, not only humanity, but all of Creation (see Romans 8:18-25; Colossians 1:15-20).

The central image is the lamb.

In the Exodus, a lamb is sacrificed and the blood is put upon the doorposts and the lintel of each Hebrew house.  (I remember watching The Ten Commandments and noticing that Joshua puts the lamb’s blood on the door in the shape of a cross).

The blood of the lamb saves the people from the Angel of Death. 

So there’s no escaping the meaning when John the Baptist gives Jesus the title of “Lamb of God.”

Do you have special meals?

What do they remember, commemorate, or symbolize?

What is one of your favorite or most special experiences of Holy Communion? --P/T

Wednesday

The Question about the Resurrection

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him ²⁸ and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰ then the second ³¹ and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³² Finally the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."

³⁴ Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷ And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." ³⁹ Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared to ask him another question.             –Luke 20:27-40 (NRSV)

Does heaven really exist?

What will heaven be like?

I’m sure we’ve all asked those questions.  I think they lie behind the popularity of many books written by or about those who’ve had Near Death Experiences, e.g., Heaven Is for Real and Proof of Heaven.  I have these and several more on my shelf.  They make for very interesting reading.

The Bible doesn’t give us too many details about heaven...and if you read carefully, you’ll discover that heaven is more a quality of relationship rather than a physical space.

Jesus gives us the most clues in the passage above.  Certainly love will be the central quality, but many of our earthly social structures won’t make much sense in heaven.

From the books I’ve read, one feels an overwhelming sense of being loved, even when experiencing the painful moments of one’s life in their “life review.”

It seems we will know loved ones, but in their prime physical appearance.

What I find interesting is that Revelation 21-22 talk about God and the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to reside on a renewed earth... -- P/T

Tuesday

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. ¹⁰ When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. ¹² And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.' ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Heaven forbid!" ¹⁷ But he looked at them and said, "What then does this text mean: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? ¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." ¹⁹ When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

The Question about Paying Taxes

²⁰ So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. ²¹ So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" ²³ But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, ²⁴ "Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?" They said, "The emperor's." ²⁵ He said to them, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." ²⁶ And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.            –Luke 20:9-26 (NRSV)

Jesus is not shy and retiring during his last week.  Instead he is pointed, bluntly honest, and amazingly insightful.

People face death in different ways.  Some are fearful, trying to hold death at arm’s length for as long as possible.  Some simply accept it.  Others face it with new energy, making the most of their time.  A curious question:  The time may not be known, but we’re all facing death.  What will we do with the time we have? --P/T

Monday

Having experienced the major movements of the week, we come back to spend some time with Jesus as he does his final teaching and as he finishes the work the Father gave him to do.

If you knew you were going to die at the end of the week, how would you spend your time?

Every day he was teaching in the temple.  The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; ⁴⁸ but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.             –Luke 19:47-48 (NRSV)

One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders ² and said to him, "Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?" ³ He answered them, "I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: ⁴ Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" ⁵ They discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?' ⁶ But if we say, 'Of human origin,' all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet." ⁷ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ Then Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."            
            –Luke 20:1-8 (NRSV)

Who are the ‘authorities’ in your life?  Who do you listen to? 

Whose opinion carries weight in your life?

Why do you give them authority...because of a title...the opinion of others...or maybe from direct experience?

For the crowds Jesus had “street cred.”  In other words, his walk and his talk matched; they had congruence...he practiced what he preached.

Many people nowadays have a hard time listening to “Christians” because their talk and their walk don’t have congruence.

“Walking the talk” doesn’t have to be flashy...it just has to have integrity.  People aren’t expecting us to be perfect...just honest (graciously honest :o) --P/T