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Mar.30.07: Light for the Day -
"Holy Week"
+ (HW2)
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-- Matthew 28:6 He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. ... -- 1 Corinthians 15:14,17 14 And if Christ has not been Raised, our Preaching is Useless and so is your Faith. 17 And if Christ has not been Raised, then your Faith is Useless, and you are Still under Condemnation for your sins. -- John 11:25-26 + "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" +++ Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the Resurrection. -- W. Nee He became what we are that He might make us what He is. -- St. Athanasius, 295-373 We live and die; Christ died and lived! -- John Stott The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances. -- Robert Flatt + Holy Week (April 1 ~ 8, 2007) This is the week from Palm Sunday to the following Sunday, Easter, and includes the days known as Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In some ways it was the most important week in Jesus’ life, with such critical events as His Cleansing the temple, the Last Supper, His Arrest, Trial, and Crucifixion, and, on Easter, His Resurrection from the dead. Because the New Testament connects these key events with mankind’s Salvation, Christians made their celebration a significant part of worship. + The Resurrection of Jesus This is the key event in the New Testament, as important for the Christians as the deliverance from Egypt was for the Jews. All Four Gospels report that the body of Jesus, crucified on a Friday and placed in a tomb, was not in the tomb on the following Sunday. The Gospels do not explain how the event occurred, only that it did, and that many people saw the Risen Jesus. When the women went to the tomb on the Sunday morning, an angel at the empty tomb told them, “He is not here, He has Risen!” (Mat. 28:6) Jesus’ body was somehow changed -- He was like Himself enough to be recognized, yet changed enough that two of His disciples did not immediately know Him (Luke 24:13–27). Some of the disciples thought He was only a phantom, but clearly He had a body of flesh: He told them, (Luke 24:39 "Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.") He also ate some food to show He was Truly Alive, not just a ghost. After some days He Blessed His disciples and Ascended into Heaven (see Ascension). The New Testament never tires of speaking of the Risen Jesus. While Jesus was admired as a Teacher, Healer, and Miracle worker, the Key event was that after dying a horrible death on the Cross, God Raised Him from the dead. +++ Had the disciples not Sincerely Believed that their dead Master had been Raised up by God, Christianity would not have Spread across the globe. +++ + Ascension All four Gospels report that Jesus Rose from the dead and Appeared to His disciples. Only Luke reports what became of Him afterward: “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into Heaven” (Luke 24:51). In Acts 1:10–11, Luke adds more detail to this account: “While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven.’ ” This is known as the Ascension, and it is mentioned several times in the New Testament. The early Christians believed that, just as Jesus had left the earth to ascend to Heaven, He would soon return from Heaven and take His followers Home. + Lent Some churches observe the Forty days before Easter as Lent, a time of Soul-Searching and Penitence. The practice dates from around A.D. 300 and was based on Jesus’ Forty days of Fasting during the time He was tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:2; Luke 4:2). In earlier times, Christians did fast during Lent, but later the idea developed of some form of self-denial -- “giving up something for Lent,” as many people phrase it. + Palm Sunday (04/01/2007) The Sunday before Easter commemorates Jesus’ welcome by crowds carrying palm branches as He made His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” (John 12:13). This is known as His “Triumphal Entry.” By the following Friday He was crucified. Some churches still stage processions using palm branches. + Maundy Thursday (04/05/2007) The Thursday before Easter commemorates the night before Jesus’ Crucifixion. It was an eventful night: Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples, the agony in Gethsemane, the Arrest. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “Commandment.” In John’s account of the evening, Jesus told His disciples, “A New Commandment I give to you, that you Love one another; as I have Loved you, that you also Love one another” (John 13:34). Good Friday (04/06/2007) In a way it is an odd name for a Sad day -- the day of Jesus’ Crucifixion. It came to be called “Good” because Jesus’ death on the Cross was regarded as the Perfect Sacrifice that Canceled Out human sin and Allowed man to be Reconciled to God. The following day, when Jesus was in the tomb, is sometimes called Holy Saturday (04/07/2007) + Easter (04/08/2007) The celebration of the Resurrection of’ Jesus occurs every Sunday (which Christians came to call “the Lord’s Day”), and it was about a century before anyone began observing the annual event that came to be called Easter. It was first called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover, which was natural since Jesus’ death and Resurrection occurred near the Jewish Feast of Passover. The apostle Paul referred to Jesus as “our Passover Lamb” (1 Cor. 5:7). Jesus, called the “Lamb of God” several times in the New Testament, was regarded as the Perfect and Final Sacrifice for man’s sins. In the year 325 the Council of Nicaea decreed that Easter would be celebrated each year on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. -- John 3:16 + For God so Loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever Believes in Him should Not Perish but have Everlasting Life. -- Romans 5:8 + But God showed His Great Love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were Still sinners. -- 1 Timothy 1:15-16 + 15 This is a True saying, and everyone should Believe it: Christ Jesus Came into the world to Save sinners -- and I was the worst of them all. 16 But that is why God had Mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His Great Patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will Realize that they, too, can Believe in Him and Receive Eternal Life. -- John 11:25-27 + 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who Believes in Me will Live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and Believes in Me will never die. Do you Believe this?" 27 "Yes, Lord," she told Him, "I Believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to Come into the world." -- John 5:21 + For just as the Father Raises the dead and Gives them Life, even so the Son Gives Life to whom He is Pleased to give it. -- John 6:40 + For My Father’s Will is that everyone who Looks to the Son and Believes in Him shall have Eternal Life, and I will Raise him up at the last day. -- Psalm 103:1-5 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, Bless His Holy Name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And Forget not all His Benefits: 3 Who Forgives all your sins, Who Heals all your diseases, 4 Who Redeems your Life from destruction, Who Crowns you with Lovingkindness and Tender Mercies, 5 Who Satisfies your desires with good things, So that your youth is Renewed like the eagle’s. But from this earth, this grave, this dust, My God shall raise me up, I trust. ~Walter Raleigh He takes men out of time and makes them feel eternity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness. ~Floyd W. Tomkins And He departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here. ~St Augustine The story of Easter is the story of God's wonderful window of divine surprise. ~Carl Knudsen |