Holy Week Remix 2011

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably found yourself saying it. If you ever had a parent, you probably heard it, and maybe more than once. Do what you’re told. Maybe you can even recall the phrase, because your father said so. As those contaminated with a sinful nature, we generally are tempted to react negatively to such edicts. As those created with a free will, it is almost instinctive to resist letting someone else be “the boss of us.” But have you ever thought about how such words, when spoken of/by a benevolent authority figure, can actually bring comfort, security, even expectancy?

The writer to the Hebrews wrote in chapter 12 that Jesus, for the joy set before him, “endured the cross, despising its shame, and [then] sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” What kept him focused through all of that torment? How was he able to persevere in the midst of such grave temptation? No question, Jesus anticipated one phenomenal outcome of his finished work was “bringing many sons to glory.” (Heb. 2:10) So we often conclude it was mainly because of His great love for us. But I would contend that the gospels also strongly suggest another motivation: He lived to please His Father.

Consider just the events that transpired from Palm Sunday to his resurrection. As he made his way through the crowds, even as he listened to their shouts of ‘Hosanna’, he was aware that these accolades came from people with all kind of agendas for him. Maybe you can relate to that part of the journey—the temptation to meet everybody else’s expectations along the way to following Jesus.

But because He lived to please His Father, it was His Father’s agenda that held Jesus’ attention. When pressed by unbelieving Jews as to his true identity, He answered: “I am not of this world…He who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me…I always do what pleases Him.” (John 8: 23-29)

Hundreds of years before that final week, the prophet Isaiah had already hinted at what was to come. “It was the Lord’s [Father’s] will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his (Jesus’) life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord [Father] will prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10)

So what might that final memo have looked like?

To: Jesus
From: Your Heavenly Father
Re: Things to accomplish during this week

1) Ride into town, not on a mighty stallion, but on a lowly donkey.
2) Curse a fig tree for not bearing fruit, and do it within earshot of your friends so they get the point.
3) Clear the temple of the money-changers and call these merchants a bunch of “robbers.”
4) Continue publicly debating the chief priests, the teach ers of the law, and the church elders, while fully aware that they are weighing every word, in order to find some reason to arrest you.
5) Endure the same political posturing with the Pharisees,the Herodians, and the Sadducees.
6) Receive a PDA (public display of affection) from a woman with a “past,” only to have its merits questioned by none other than Judas Iscariot. His PDA will follow.
7) Break bread with your best buds and remind them that the next time you drink wine with them, EVERYTHING will have changed. Oh, and even after three years of in tense ministry with them, sadly behold their clueless expressions.
8) Visit the garden of Gethsemane, pray in agony as your very best buds fall asleep.
9) Get arrested, falsely accused, humiliated, stripped, beaten, convicted and nailed naked to a tree. (And the world will call it “Good” Friday.)

But one more thing, Son.

10) Because You will have chosen to “humble yourself and become obedient to death – even death on a cross”, y journey’s end you will be exalted to the highest place and given “the name that is above every name, so that at your name, [Jesus,] every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue will confess that you, Jesus, are Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father.”

So fellow artists and disciples of Jesus, I ask you: With all the different voices clamoring for your attention, what keeps you motivated? Whose agenda keeps you focused and fulfilled? Might each of us find more and more delight in just doing what pleases our Father simply because He said so. As followers of Christ, it is the only path to victory and true joy. After all, He was just doing what He was told.

-tad