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Terrible Friday
Jesus had received the confession of a known thief and welcomed him or her into paradise.
He’d begged God to forgive the very ones who had betrayed and denied him…the ones who had rigged his trial…the ones who ripped the very flesh from his body with leather whips, pulled tufts of hair from his beard, and shoved a tangled crown of thorns into the soft skin of his head…
He’d made arrangements for his mother’s care.
He’d just preached his shortest sermon, “It is finished.”
Then he died.
It was terrible. A haunting, nightmarish, moment where suddenly the close family and friends of Jesus were in the exact same state of grief as all the others gathered at the feet of the surrounding crosses.
But, how? He promised us he was going to do something incredible. He told us that all people would know we followed him if we loved…but how could we love anyone now? He told us to serve everyone…to lay our lives down for our friends…but what’s the point anymore? We gave up everything to go follow him, and now it’s over?
I’m not sure I’ll ever quite understand the crippling grief of the people at the feet of the cross, but I’m sure for them it was an absolutely terrible Friday.
Yet, there’s one person I imagine must have been experiencing something amazing: Barabbas. He was a notorious criminal…a notorious sinner.
Barabbas was the very first person to receive life from Christ’s death. He received freedom and Jesus took his place on the cross.
In the most rudimentary sense, we can all find ourselves in Barabbas. The guards unlocked his chains, other prisoners probably jeered, and in a state of bewilderment, Barabbas walked out a free man. I bet his wife and children were shocked when he walked in the front door…
“How did you get out, Barabbas?!” I imagine his wife asked, “did you escape? You didn’t kill anyone did you?”
“No, no, absolutely not,” he replied, “The teacher who’s we’re always hearing about…what’s his name…Jesus? They took him instead.”
I have no idea if that conversation took place, but I’m sure something similar must have happened.
So it seems our King Jesus never does anything the way we expect. He announced his birth to shepherds, was born in a barn instead of a palace…and gave life to a horrendous criminal to pave the way for the rest of us.
Barabbas was the very first one to experience what Good Friday was really all about.
The cross changed everything for him just as it does for us.
Today I face Good Friday as I imagine Barabbas did…a little bewilderment…a deep joy…a growing gratitude…a new life…
A passion to live like I’ve never lived before.
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One Week to Live
Sometimes I wonder what that final week before the cross was like for Jesus. Somehow, behind the social curtain of meals with friends, countryside travel, and no doubt constant interaction, Jesus knew it would all come to a head merely days away.
Was his countenance different?
Did he have a far away look in his eye?
I wonder if he had a lingering sadness because of the impending grief and heartache of his Mother, Mary.
I wonder if he every had to remind himself to breathe when the anxious thoughts of the coming pain washed over him.
I wonder what his conversations with Judas were like that final week. Did they exchange any knowing looks?
I wonder if he ever stopped to think of you, or me…and the life his death would afford us.
All the stories of his thirty-three years on earth were rapidly culminating into one, painful, bloody, final moment that would change everything.
Besides the Pharisees plotting a rigged, Roman trial, did anyone else know what was going to transpire?
I imagine Jesus was especially gentle in his final days we now refer to as Holy Week. I imagine he spoke especially softly but poignantly to anyone he came into contact with.
I imagine he spoke less and less heading into Passover, whittling away at his usually word-rich sermons all the way until there were only three words left to preach: “It is finished.”
The words of the prophet Zechariah rang true then, and they ring just as loud today…
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he…”
Don’t avoid the powerful, life-giving reminders of Holy Week. Participate in them, embrace them.
Our King has come…for us.
Our king was broken that we might be repaired, remade.
The eggs, baskets, bunnies, candy and pastel clothing are merely trappings to a much more beautiful narrative. The narrative where Jesus, in the midst of his anguish for the great physical agony he must endure, must have looked out the windows of his love and thought, “Wait until they see what happens next…”
We are what happens next.
As NT Wright says, “We’re the Easter people; let’s get on with it.”
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How do you commemorate Holy Week and Easter?
I love al Qaeda…and you should too?
There goes Matt Chambers again…saying crazy stuff…
Sort of…
So, what do I have to say for myself? Well, a few things…
But before we begin knitting together a perspective I pray is forged in Christ-likeness, I’d like to offer this thought from German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.”
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During his time among us, Jesus broke cultural, religious and philosophical ranks on many topics, but for me, one in particular stands out. It’s one we wrestle with in the Church frequently…and it’s the basis for accusations, splits, and a myriad of disagreements.
As I mentioned in my last post (if you haven’t read it yet, please take a moment), in Scripture, love is always tied to sacrifice. Love is generous.
Jesus has invited us to be different. Really different.
Bless those who curse us…
Pray for those who abuse us…
You’ve no doubt read those passages, heard them invoked multiple times, and probably already have an opinion on what exactly they mean.
In our cultures faith and politics are quite heavily mixed, and it’s too easy for political language to dominate a conversation that is meant to be holy.
For example…(and each of these is fed by a particular ideology):
“But they hate us and are trying to destroy us!”
“But shouldn’t we step in and defend when someone is hurting someone else?”
“But we must side with Israel! Period!”
“But they took prayer out of the schools!”
“But they don’t care about the poor!”
“But they are destroying the earth!”
“But that could ruin traditional marriage!”
I’m mentioning these lines only because I hear them the most often in conversation. My point is, I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t know someone they’re in opposition to. The call of Jesus then becomes how we respond.
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 6, if you keep reading past the first admonishment to love out enemies, Jesus steps up His game a bit: “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!”
Ouch.
Reading that in today’s context comes across like this…
Loving your wife isn’t unexpected…loving al Qaeda sets you apart.
The heart of this idea is what Dallas Willard calls an “active generosity toward those who harm [us] or are hostile to [us].”
Who actually lives like that?
It’s not about pacifism or relativism…liberalism or conservatism…it’s about making sure the banner of the Kingdom of God is always raised higher in our lives than any other.
We shouldn’t love because we are expecting a suicide bomber to magically end his diabolical quest, we love because Christ first loved us. I suspect many times we think God needs us to handle His business for Him…but people are His business…and love is His foundation.
Love is our foundation as we seek to defend the weak.
Love is our foundation as we encounter evil.
Love is our foundation as we fend off injustice.
Love is our foundation as we lift high the cross for the world to find rescue.
I’m really not sure what loving al Qaeda totally looks like, but Psalm 23 says God prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies, and my prayer is that I will always make room for them to sit down.
So may we find ourselves in “the thick of foes”, armed to the teeth with love.
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“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” // G.K. Chesterton
Painting by Scott Erickson
Why did Jesus hang out with a Terrorist?
A while back, President Obama was accused of being friends with a terrorist, but did you know that Jesus asked one to be a disciple?
You may not know much about the Zealots, but they were a group of people who were part of an insurgency to overthrow the Roman occupation of Judea during and after the days of Jesus.
(They actually succeeded for a short time around 66AD).
They hated the Romans and traitors, and if you wanted to live it was best you weren’t associated with either group.
They were assassins. They were some of the earliest known terrorists.
And Jesus chose a terrorist as a disciple?
As part of the select group that was supposed to change the world?
How could he?
Why would he?
He also chose a traitor: Matthew the Tax Collector (my namesake…thanks mom and dad!)
If you’re keeping score at home, this means that among Christ’s original posse of 12, we have a terrorist and a traitor (vehement political enemies), a betrayer and several school flunkies.
Fantastic.
So what’s my point?
My point is this: if Jesus hadn’t done things the way He did them, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. The whole reason we have a Savior to entrust our very lives to is because Jesus did things differently.
The people were looking for a King to replace Herod…but Jesus is born in a manger and announces His birth to some shepherds (who probably gave up drinking for good after that night). And if you think the serenading angels simply appeared to the wrong people, keep in mind a group of astrologers figured out who Jesus was way before the official people of God.
The people wanted a political leader, Jesus laid down His life instead.
Mere moments before He was raised up on the cross, Jesus reveals to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”
No one saw it coming. Everyone’s expectations and predictions were completely off.
Jesus came to set up a Kingdom where Simon’s ability to inflict terror was no longer needed, but his passion for a life-altering message was.
A Kingdom where guys who failed school could preach the story of redemption that still carries on from generation to generation.
A Kingdom where even a traitor and a betrayer were invited into community.
A Kingdom where haters, liars, cheaters, murderers, doubters, racists, whores, Capitalists, Socialists, thieves, gossips, perverts, poor, starving, alcoholics, users, cutters, and every type of people are told: “Come as you are…”
He came for the broken.
He came for me.
He came for you.
And when you and I become part of His Kingdom, the call on our lives is this:
When’s the last time you spent any significant amount of time with any of the kinds of people listed above? Truth is, you probably interact with them every day, but the trick is learning how to see them…and see them as Jesus does.
We need to stop filtering our faith by the kingdoms of this world. Why do we get so caught up in the temporal? While financial markets crash, nations are plunged into rioting, famine wiping out tens of thousands of precious lives, and governments are left floundering for answers, we are part of a Kingdom that will never crumble.
This is our hope. This is our message.
I’m convinced that if we all lived out this reality, things would begin to look drastically different.
Following Jesus is about more than having better vision. It’s about having new eyes.
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By the way – an amazing song that goes along with what I’ve talked about today is “Hookers and Robbers” by my dear friends the Charlie Hall band…
Click the image below for a link to download the song…do it!
Saying “my smokin’ hot wife” is SO typical
Don’t be typical.
Well that sounds simple enough. Problem solved, right? Fantastic. See you guys tomorrow.
No.
Fighting off the demons of typical is one of the most challenging life-hurdles any of us will ever face.
Why?
Because our societies/churches/businesses/schools work very hard to teach us how to live normally. To not rock the boat. To be a good citizen.
What actually ends up happening is some twisted version of the film, Pleasantville, where everything looked great on the outside, but was complete turmoil underneath.
If I had a dime for every time I heard guys in ministry publicly announce they have a “smokin’ hot wife”, I’d be independently wealthy. (By the way…personal preference…can we PLEASE let that meme die? Anyone?)
If I had a penny for every couple that pretended everything was ok when it really wasn’t, I’d be even wealthier.
Pretending is part of being typical.
I spoke to a group of people yesterday about my work and organization, and when I was finished a man came up and told me: “I’ve never seen a 30 year old with as much drive as you have.”
At first I was tempted to give myself a Ron Burgundy-style leaping high-five, but then it hit me: I thought I was running behind…do people really wait until later to become driven?
Is it really a rule that we must wait until it feels like we’re running out of time to finally be who we were called to be? To finally fight for that job? Take that trip? Be a great spouse? Have kids? (I’ll be doing a whole post on kids sometime…)
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, there are a group of religious folk who look down on the character, Miss Maudie, for working so hard on her garden…to which she responds: “There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
The cross of Christ isn’t freedom to be average. If we really believe in the bigness of our God, then we should all be practitioners of the impossible, not enablers of the typical.
By the way, I’m preaching to the choir…these words are as much for me as anyone else.
Have you wronged someone and need to make it right? Call them! Don’t leave it hanging over you or them any longer.
Bring your spouse and kids into the living room for a mandatory family meeting and have a dance party instead. Don’t have a family yet? Call up a bunch of friends!
When was the last time you organized a day of romance for your husband…wife…boyfriend…girlfriend?
When was the last time you did something out of your routine?
When was the last time you actually gave air-time to your dreams?
When was the last time you went downtown and hung out with some street-walkers and asked them about their lives?
Jesus came to give us LIFE! Real life…abundant life…not typical life or pretend life.
When you start to feel the weight of all that must be done, remember your strength is limited but your Creator’s is not.
Don’t be afraid…because that’s typical.
