Holy Week or Wholly Week? (Being All In)

The above graphic is a visual summary of the whole shootin’ match that we call the “gospel”. The Incarnation, Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection, and Parousia (or “second coming,” as we say) reached a zenith fulfillment in the last week of His earthly life referred to as “The Passion of Christ” and “Holy Week.” The whole of His thirty three years culminated in one final week of ancient Jewish feasts and ritual event observations. “Holy” week became “wholly” week for Jesus as He moved through every test of His total commitment to His Father’s will. He was all in. Can we say the same?

Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday has been coined “Holy Week” but I’m wondering if it is “ ‘Wholly’ Week” to us like it was to Him. Are you ALL IN or not? If I’m just religious about rituals, therein lies a clue as to why there’s probably not much true holiness in my life. Most likely, my faith is full of more holes than the holy. Being whole in my devotion to a real relationship with God is key. “Wholly” leads to “holy”.

On Palm Sunday: Start by asking yourself, “Am I just part of the crowd following Christ, or do I try to walk closer to Him? Do I just go with the flow socially and publicly, or am I seeking to identify with Jesus spiritually and trying to personally understand His purpose? Is following Him just a parade to me? A charade? Do I just go along with the throng, or do I want to grow strong in following Him more nearly and dearly?” Honest answers here can be the beginning of more wholeness in relating to the Lord. 

After “Holy Monday” and “Holy Tuesday” where Christ spent His time in the Temple teaching and confronting the corrupt Jewish hierarchy as He cleaned house at His Father’s place, next and naturally came “Spy Wednesday”. The chief priests weren’t about to cede the Nazarene any slack as they were already losing ground to Him in the public relations battle with the people. What they needed was someone to help them outflank the carpenter rabbi so that they could get at His vulnerabilities. Someone close to Him who would be a weak link they could exploit. Someone like Judas, the moneybag guy in their group who was obviously susceptible to a bribe. Brother Iscariot was perfect because of his imperfections, mainly his love of money. Ask yourself, “Is it my love for the Lord that keeps me at His side and in His service, or does the desire for something else (like the love of money) root itself down deep in my soul and influence my loyalties and decisions?” (1 TIMOTHY 6:10)

Then comes “Maundy Thursday” which comes from the Latin version of JOHN 13:34’s “new ‘mandate’ (‘commandment’)” to love like Christ loves (2 CORINTHIANS 5:14). You know, that “dirty water and damp towel” kind of footwashing love. “Does such a love command my affections and regulate my actions to the extent that I become known as one who has been discipled by the love of the Master?”

Finally we come to “Good Friday” when absolute evil comes face to face with resolute righteousness. You can’t spell “devil” without “evil,” and you can understand omni-love without Jesus on the cross. On Golgotha we see omni-agape “finish it”. So when we wonder, “‘Is God good all the time? All the time, is God good?’ And can He bring ultimate goodness out of what appears to be seemingly only injustice and evil?” Friday ushers in a Sabbath where wrong has to stop working while right goes right on doing good by all means made divinely possible. (ROMANS 8:28; GENESIS 50:20)  

Cut to the epilogue: “Holy Saturday”. It must have seemed to them like the silence would go on forever. Try to imagine the dead end they felt as they waited for the funeral aftermath. They had washed His lifeless body of the blood stains, but couldn’t change the scars. Despite the clean linen and aromatic spices, they just couldn’t get the jagged wounds out of their minds. “In a few days He will stink like Lazarus did,” they must have thought. The wait doesn’t seem as long to us because we know that those disciples only had to wait a day before their prayer vigil would be answered by the return presence of the risen Jesus. Fast forward to our struggle when the quiet becomes deafening. How do I feel when my waiting on the Lord sometimes lasts longer than I think I can stand it? When silent Saturday just drags on and on and on. Will the wait be worth it?

And then morning comes with “Easter Sunday.” Resurrection! But His rising from the dead on that first, first day of the week was confusing and scary, at least at the beginning (MARK 16:8). However, He was as faithful in returning to them as He had been in overturning Hades itself! Heaven had His back and He came back to them turning their grief into joy just as He had promised (MATTHEW 28:8). And their mysterious walking and talking and spending intimate table time with the raised Christ forever changed their perspective and brought transformation. (LUKE 24:13-35)

The neverending-new beginning of the story will be the “Parousia” or “appearing” as we refer to His second coming. The One who came back will come back! He is the comeback Christ! Even more than His powerful resurrection over death on that morning nineteen hundred and ninety three years ago, His promise to us is that he will return with death defying-resurrection power over all death and decay and eternally energize the long awaited newness that creation longs for (ROMANS 8:18-23; REVELATION 21:5). The Bible never closes, it just keeps on resounding with an open invitation to the future of God’s tomorrow in these words: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Hallelujah!