Greetings to all in the Love of Jesus Christ:
Holy Week is almost upon us. As our journey through Lent intensifies, there is much talk about dying and living, clinging to life and letting go, losing our lives and being saved. In Christian tradition, Jesus is linked to salvation. Indeed, the name “Jesus” means: “God saves.” But do you ever wonder, on the really practical level: “HOW does God save?” How does Jesus save?
Christians have debated this topic throughout our history. Some claim that Jesus saved by dying – but while he is still alive, he proclaims to Zacchaeus: “Today, salvation has come to this house.” Some claim that God’s resurrection of Jesus is what saves, that we are all included in that resurrection. Some claim that Jesus was the “pioneer and perfecter” of our faith, leading the way for us, showing the path to salvation, if we will only follow – a path of overcoming fear in order to live filled with love for all Creation. It’s a path Jesus pioneered, and that Jesus accompanies us on, but a path we have to walk ourselves.
On an even more practical level, I can share one of the ways that Jesus saves ME. There are times in my life when I start feeling sorry for myself: people complain and criticize, I start feeling overworked and underappreciated, and I get stressed out. Bummed out. Feel like I’m getting a raw deal in life. It’s tempting to just sit around and have a pity-party. Sometimes I get stuck there, depressed, feeling alone.
In such times, I have found one consistent cure: reading the story of Holy Week. This year, we find it in Mark 14-15. When I sit down and read about the last week in Jesus’ life, how people misunderstood him, criticized him, sold him out, falsely accused him, disassociated with him, claimed they never knew him, mocked him, tortured him, abandoned him – suddenly my little pity-party seems … pitiful. Suddenly, I realize this Jesus I claim to follow didn’t exactly have an easy life, where everything was rosy. No, his troubles were FAR greater than mine. But he faced them with love. He faced them with resolve. In fact, maybe it’s just enough to say he faced them. He didn’t avoid them. He didn’t hide. He didn’t wallow in feelings of self-pity. And suddenly, having gone through that journey with Jesus, I wake up, I snap out of my self-indulgent pity and bring new energy to facing that which I must face. The story of Jesus’ last week saves me, again and again, from my self-indulgence.
I wish you great blessings during Holy Week. I invite you to sit down and read Mark 14-15 straight through, to live with the story of Jesus’ last week. And I invite you to share with me sometime how you experience Jesus in your life.
Dios les bendiga!
Pastor Jay
Regional Minister and President, Christian Church in Arizona
