Category: Jesus

Posted in holy week, Jesus

Some Good Friday thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Paul Keiffer on Unsplash

I’m going to ramble a bit on this Good Friday. My mind is filled with an assortment of thoughts and memories.

First, I doubt that many, if any, of us can imagine what Jesus suffered at the hands of the priests and the Roman soldiers. The physical violence started with the high priest, teachers of the law, and elders who punched and slapped Jesus. After Pilate handed Jesus over the to the soldiers, they beat him with a staff, flogged him, put a crown of thorns on his head, drove nails through his hands, and crucified him.

When one fighter overwhelmingly beats and bloodies the other in an MMA octagon, the referee stops the fight. With Jesus they don’t stop, but dish out more and more punishment. We wince at the “little pinch” of a flu shot, make sure we’re numbed up before the dentist fills a small cavity, and groan when we get up after sitting too long. Jesus has the flesh on his back torn open with a whip, spikes driven through his hands and feet, and is left to hang by his arms to slowly suffocate . The bell never rings ending the round. There no pain relief, other than the drugged wine Jesus refused. There’s no time out. There’s no tapping out. The pain only stops when Jesus dies.

No painting, drawing, or representation of the crucifixion captures the gruesome horror of Good Friday. Crucifixion was a public execution. Some of those who saw it loved Jesus. Others hated him. I wonder if any of us could watch Christ suffer and die. I would turn away.

We gather for worship on Good Friday, at noon, in the afternoon, or in the evening. Our services are adored with beautiful music, encroaching darkness, descriptive words, and silent exits. The only reason it’s not so bad (good?) for us is because it was terrible for Jesus.

A Good Friday Tenebrae (“shadows” or “darkness”) service will conclude in darkness as the last candle is extinguished. The only way out is through the shadow of death, a valley Jesus traverses with us.

I remember my last Good Friday as a pastor because one grandson lit and another extinguished the candles, surrendering the room to the darkness. I took the huge family King James bible my mom gave us at our wedding, raised it high over my head, and slammed it down on the altar with all my might, to remind all of the stone settling into place, sealing Jesus in the tomb.

It’s a powerful worship moment. Everyone who’s been there before knows what’s going to happen. Yet everyone still gasps when it does.

That book was only called into duty once each spring. But it took a beating, the binding barely holding together when I handed it over to my son to use at his church on Good Friday.

The apostle Paul wrote, “We preach Christ crucified.” This is our message. It’s terrible. And yet it’s wonderful. It illustrates how bad we are and what we deserve. It also proclaims how much God loves us anyway.

Posted in Christmas, Jesus, Through the Bible Devotions

It’s that time of year…

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This blue and white display caught my eye as I zipped through my mostly red and green Publix yesterday. Even though Chanukah (Hanukkah?) is almost over, there’s still plenty of holiday merch on these shelves. Must haves include menorahs, games, dreidels, straws, stickers, and potholders.

But my favorite item is the box of eight milk chocolate Macabbees. Not as many as the twenty-four piece chocolate Advent calendar, but more than a typical box of chocolate Santas.

The Maccabees were Jewish freedom fighters before the birth of Jesus Christ. Their revolt against the Seleucid empire secured freedom for the nation. They rededicated the temple in Jerusalem and reestablished Jewish worship in 164 BC. Hanukkah is the eight-day celebration of that event.

Spoiler alert: Most of “Christmas” revolves around fictional characters (Santa, Frosty, the Grinch, Rudolph, Jack Skellington, Buddy the elf, Mickey and Minnie Mouse). Hanukkah is the real deal, honoring those through whom God would send a Savior, who is the real deal of Christmas. (Oh, and yes, you can buy a chocolate nativity.)

When I went to college, many of my friends were Jewish. Cliff taught me this little jingle:

“I had a little dreidel, I made it out of clay; And with my little dreidel, I lost ten bucks today.”

The only Hanukkah light display in my neighborhood.
Posted in Jesus

Palm Sunday thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Image by Travel2h from Pixabay

Today is Palm Sunday, and I thought I’d just take a few minutes to reflect on the prophecy Jesus fulfilled when he rode into Jerusalem, setting into motion the events of Holy Week.

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,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

He comes.

Woody Allen once said that 80 percent of success in life is just showing up.

My five-year-old grandson just finished up his first season of recreation league basketball. At this level, it’s just taking turns running the ball up the court to take a shot at a six-foot high basket. Every player did the same thing after they took a shot. They looked and smiled at mom and dad in the stands. It didn’t matter whether they made the shot or missed completely, the most important thing was the presence of their parents.

While I was a pastor, I did my best to see anyone in the congregation before their surgery. That meant a lot of early morning drives to hospitals. The twenty-second prayer before prep was important. But so was being there.

One amazing thing about our God is that he shows up. He’s walking in the garden when Adam and Eve are hiding in the bushes. He wrestles with Jacob. He talks to Moses from a burning bush.

And he shows up in Jerusalem just as the prophet said he would. He comes “righteous and having salvation,” that is, he’s here to rescue us. To save the day. To be our hero. To score the winning goal in overtime. Go with whatever image works for you.

Jesus knows that showing up like this will stir up the opposition that will lead to his betrayal, arrest, denial, conviction, and execution. But that’s why he shows up. He comes to give his life as a ransom for many. He shows up to save.

He comes as king.

No one has to tell the Palm Sunday crowd what is going on here. They’ve been waiting for over four hundred years for the words of Zechariah to come to life. When they see Jesus riding into town they shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:10; Luke 19:38)

For the people, it’s as much politics as it is religion. Roman rule will end once their rightful king assumes the throne. God promised that a descendant of David would be that rightful king. It looks like that moment has come!

Kings capture our imagination. The lion is the king of the jungle. Roger Miller sings about being “King of the Road.” The cowardly lion dreams about being king of the forest. Godzilla is king of the monsters. King Kong Bundy was a four-hundred fifty pound professional wrestler. Kids wrestle around to see who is “king of the hill.”

But I think we have a hard time thinking of Jesus as our king. We like to vote for our leaders. We like a government with checks and balances. We like term limits. We like the possibility of growing up to be king someday.

Sorry, you don’t get any of those things with a king. You don’t get any of that with Jesus. In fact, you don’t get much at all when Jesus rides into Jerusalem.

He comes with humility.

Rather than enjoying all the trappings of divinity, Jesus empties himself. He becomes a servant. He humbles himself and becomes obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-8).

When Jesus pulls up to the gates of Jerusalem, he’s not flexing his muscles. And if anyone has impressive guns, it’s Jesus. He shushes the storm, parts the seas, and walks on the water. But today, he rides on a donkey. He’s undefeated against every challenger, from demons to disease and even death. But now he will submit to the spiritual powers of evil in the world.

Sometimes we think of Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem as a biblical ticker-tape parade. But such parades follow victories and championships. This procession is a prelude to being despised and rejected, pierced and crushed, wounded and slaughtered (Isaiah 53:3-7).

It’s kind of like watching a movie in which the good guy doesn’t realize there’s a explosives or kryptonite or spiders behind a door. We want to yell, “Don’t go in there! It’s a trap!” But of course, they can’t hear us.

I know the story really well. Judas is going to sell you out, Jesus. The religious leaders want to kill you. The crowd is going to choose Barabbas. The disciples are all going to run away. They are going to treat you like a criminal.

Jesus knows the story, too. In fact, you could say he is the story, from beginning to end. But it’s not all about him. He makes it about us. He comes to be one of us, so we’ll never have to be away from him.