We all make plans for days to come: some for vacations, some for the work-week,;some for medical procedures; some for endless to-do lists. Jesus had one too, this very week, some two thousand years ago. Here’s what he said: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” Doesn’t that sound like an agenda? He told his disciples how he would celebrate his last Passover: “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” At that very supper, he showed his betrayer, Judas. Jesus told them, what would happen, and that He would arise again and meet them again.
This side of Calvary, we know the rest of the story. Can you imagine what these followers were thinking? Would we wash Jesus’s feet with tears?Is it possible for us to understand their terror at His arrest? Can we feel their anger at the authorities? Can we agonize as He suffered and died a criminal’s death so publicly? Would we dare come forward, as Joseph of Arimathea did, to remove the body and bury Him, knowing that the authories could arrest His followers? Would we stay locked up, fearful for our very lives until Easter morning changed the entire scenario for all of history, and for us?
“O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,/Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was Thine!/ Yet though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain;/ Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain./
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ‘Tis I deserve Thy place’ Look on me with Thy favor, Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.”
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