Tag Archives: crucifixion

Holy Week Review

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Palm Sunday is on April 1 this year, Easter will be April 8.  That final week of Lent is referred to as Holy Week, and should be a special time in the lives of believers.  Here are some Holy Week posts from years past; they may not be new, but are still good.

The “Triumphal” Entry is about Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.  The same Jews shouting Hosanna at the beginning of the week will be shouting Crucify him by the end of the week.

Who Framed Jesus? was a documentary shown by Discovery 2 years ago, but the same thing happens on t.v. and magazine covers every year.  This post generated a frenzy of comments that are also a blast to read.

The Last Supper is about Jesus’ final Passover and the beginning of communion.  And on the same night he washed the disciples’ feet.

Is Jesus the Sheep, or the Shepherd?  This rather short post is one of the most read ever on The Master’s Table.

The Resurrection is the most celebrated event in Christianity, but here’s a thought: Jesus Died.  Jesus is God; have you ever thought that all the way through?

He Cannot Save Himself, the original post and He Cannot Save Himself, a poem for Good Friday.

It’s Friday, Sunday’s Coming  Sermon by S.M. Lockridge, with scenes from The Passion

And finally The Importance of the Resurrection.

The Cross Isn’t Pretty

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There’s a little icon on my desktop that represents a trash can.  A real trash can would be showing its age by now, but my icon always looks exactly the same.  It never gets filthy, never dents, never smells, and the lid always closes no matter how much “trash” is inside.  The icon represents a trash can, but a real trash can isn’t pretty.  So it is with the cross.

We wear crosses of gold and silver about the neck, carve them into our church pews, paint them in our artwork and place them above our church buildings.  As an icon, the cross represents Christianity.  But our images have no splinters, rusty nails, nor do they drip with the blood of the slain.  The image of the cross is meant to remind us that the broken body of Christ was hung on the tree.  Our communion wafers are perfect little squares, and the wine/juice tastes sweet, but the body of the Lord was broken and his blood poured out.  Flesh was ripped away by the whip.  Blood and sweat mingled and dripped to the ground.  The air was ripe with the smell of blood and the stench of death.  The cross was an instrument of torture and execution.

I’m not suggesting we do away with the symbols.  It is our nature to forget, and we must be reminded of what God has done.  Rainbows actually are beautiful, but they remind us of mercy in the face of judgment.  Baptism represents death of the old man and rebirth of the new.  Passover reminded the Jews of what God had done for them, just as communion does for us today.  Our hope is in the resurrection, made possible by the crucifixion.  We must remember what God has done.  But remember as well… it wasn’t pretty.

It’s Friday; Sunday’s Coming

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Vocals are S.M. Lockridge, images from The Passion of the Christ

The “Triumphal” Entry

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Several well known statements are found in Psalm 118:1-25: “His steadfast love endures forever,” “this is the day the LORD hath made,” “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and even others still.  Verse 25 reads “Save us, we pray, O LORD” in the ESV; “O LORD. we beseech thee, save us now!” in the King James.  The Hebrew word rendered in English as save now is hosanna.

All four Gospels tell the story of Jesus’s triumphal entry.  Palm Sunday is our celebration of Jesus entering Jerusalem for the last time to observe Passover with his disciples. Continue reading →

The Importance of the Resurrection

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Jesus, resurrectionThere was a time I wondered why so much emphasis was placed on the resurrection.  Jesus died on the cross as the all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Even if there had been no resurrection, his sacrificial death would have brought salvation; what could be more important than that?

The blood of Jesus was a more excellent sacrifice than that of bulls, sheep and birds.  His death on the cross brought an end to the temple sacrifice system.  The entire Gospel pivots around the cross.  It is the universal symbol of Christianity.  But the implications of resurrection are equally powerful, a fact that I can now appreciate as well.  Continue reading →

Final Thoughts on Holy Week

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jesus_crossThis year for Holy Week I pointed out that Jesus died.  We all know that he was crucified, and was raised to life again, but the real miracle here is that God died.

We asked the question Jesus, sheep or shepherd? That post will be my sermon for Easter Sunday.  I’m preaching twice in the morning.

Another thought was on Jesus’ prayer from the cross.  He didn’t pray just for his followers or his family, but he prayed the prayer of intercession for the people who were crucifying  him.  “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  This is the Christ that we are supposed to be like.

There are some older posts I thought about re-posting, but instead I will just link them here.  He Cannot Save Himself is a poem about the crucifixion.  It is based on the sermon I preached for Easter last year.  Feel free to copy and paste it, print it in your church bulletin, or read it outloud.

Other good topics for Holy Week are Jesus’ Examples: Washing Feet and Passover Becomes the Lord’s Supper.

Thoughts on Holy Week: Jesus’ Prayer from the Cross

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jesus_crossIn his first sermon (Mark 1) Jesus offers a simple message: “Repent and believe the gospel.”  As he hangs on the cross some 3 years later, what is Jesus doing?  We have only a handful of words spoken by Jesus during the crucifixion, but there are some powerful lessons to be shared in them.

As he hangs on the cross, he was in between two thieves.  One of them mocked Jesus, but the other asked to be remembered by him.  Jesus replied that he would be with him in paradise.  Even while dying on the cross, Jesus won a convert!

But even more amazing: Jesus said the prayer of intercession for the very people crucifying him that day. Not just of the Roman soldiers, but for those really responsible, including the Jewish people, the priests and the Sanhedrin.  “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  He prayed for the very people taking his life.  Taking the form of a servant is one thing.  Washing feet is another.  Praying for those that despitefully use you is another entirely.  But none of those compare to asking forgiveness for the very people that are nailing you to a cross, where you will slowly bleed and die.

Thoughts on Holy Week: Jesus Died

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jesus_crossI know, perhaps you’re thinking “Well duh.” But give it just a little more thought than that. This is God’s only son we’re talking about here. As a matter of fact, Jesus is God.

On Easter we will celebrate the resurrection. Jesus wasn’t just resurrected, he IS the resurrection. So we’re not simply celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. He was not the first to rise again. That miracle had happened more than once already. But when Jesus hung on the cross, it was the first time that God had ever died. Two of the gospels recorded Jesus’ birth; all four record the crucifixion. In Matthew’s Gospel, he records the sky going dark until the 9th hour (3 p.m.).  Only Matthew goes on to say that the veil was torn in the temple from top to bottom, and the graves of the saints opened up.  The Old Testament saints went through the street of Jerusalem prophesying (Matt. 27:45, 51-53).  The darkness, the earthquake, the veil, the saints, all highlight an extraordinary event taking place that day.  I’m thinking of a few other scriptures beyond the gospels: Continue reading →

Christianity, Truth or Fiction

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jesus_crossThere is an old saying that is Christianity were a lie, they would have made up a better lie.

Think about it. The basic tenants of the Christian faith are that a carpenter from a small town in Israel was crucified by the Roman Empire, buried, rose again from the dead, and that faith in these events is what gets one into heaven. These are just the basics. We could make a long list. To be a faithful Christian, one must believe: Continue reading →

Hindsight is 20/20

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hindsight-rear-view-future-past-road-mirrorHindsight is 20/20 means that anything you look back on is easier to understand that it was at the time.  We make decisions in the now, then sometimes realize later we acted too quickly, neglected certain facts, or else were simply uninformed.  Hindsight being 20/20, we would have done things differently if we could just have seen the big picture. Continue reading →