Covenant Weekly

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We are less than two weeks away from Easter Sunday. For those who have been observing lent, the end is near. For all of us in the church, this is a season where, no matter how non-liturgical we may be, the same biblical texts are rehearsed every year. This coming Sunday we will read and consider Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem while crowds cry out, “Hosannah!” On Good Friday, we will read about Jesus’ journey to the cross. On Easter Sunday, we will celebrate that “He is risen! He is risen, indeed!” In just a couple of weeks, Easter will be over. Spring weather will be more established (Hopefully!). And we’ll be looking ahead to summer. But I’d like to invite us not to rush through Easter. There is so much more to the story of Jesus in the weeks heading toward the resurrection. And I think, if we take our time and enter into that story, there is much we can learn about our own journey toward resurrection. And that is what I want to invite us to consider in today’s Covenant Weekly.

The metaphor of a road or a journey is often used to describe life. For Jesus, there is a literal road that he walks back and forth on during the events recorded in Luke 19-23. The literal order of events isn’t primary for Luke in his presentation of this part of Jesus’ life. He is using the road to help us follow Jesus on his journey - getting closer and closer to the cross.

And while we have Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter to reflect on Jesus’ story, there is so much more that is recorded in these four chapters. We just don’t have time on Sunday mornings during this season to consider it all. As a result, I think some of it has become detached from Holy Week for some of us. We know the stories, but we forget that it happened so close to the cross.

Consider the following order of events:

• Jesus is travelling through Jericho towards Jerusalem when he encounters a man named Zacchaeus, a tax collector. Jesus stops and visits with this man who was an outcast from good Jewish society and Zacchaeus’ life was transformed.
• Moving on from there, Jesus continues toward Jerusalem and tells a parable that people don’t understand.
• As he nears the city, Jesus is celebrated and praised with singing, shouting, and worship. This is what we reflect on during Palm Sunday.
• Then he stops and weeps over Jerusalem.
• Jesus then goes into the city and into the temple where he clears out those who are selling animals for sacrifices.
• In chapter 20, Jesus has several encounters with religious leaders.
  • First, they question his authority.
  • Next, he speaks a parable against them. They understand that he is speaking against them, but can’t do anything about it at the time.
  • They try to trap him in questions about taxes but fail.
  • Others try to trap him in questions about the resurrection but fail.
  • Then Jesus challenges them with a question they can’t respond to and in the silence that follows because they can’t respond, Jesus speaks bluntly against the religious leaders and the abuse they perpetuate while shrouded in piousness.
• In chapter 21, Jesus celebrates a poor widow’s sacrificial offering before going on an extended message about the future - both about the near future of historical Jerusalem and about how his followers should live in the time to come. It describes Jesus’ journey back and forth between the Mount of Olives to pray and the Temple to preach.
• In chapter 22, Jesus endures betrayal by a friend; enjoys a beautiful meal with those closest to him; predicts denial by another friend; and endures suffering through the moments before his arrest praying alone while his confidants fell asleep. Finally, he is arrested, healing his antagonizer in the process before being denied by Peter, mocked by soldiers, and brought before the religious leaders for trial.
• In chapter 23, Jesus is bounced from political leader to political leader because none of them want to wade into the mess surrounding him. Finally, Pilate declares his innocence before getting him flogged and eventually caving to public pressure and sentencing him to death.

In this short span of time, Jesus extended overwhelming grace with amazing results. He educated but was completely misunderstood. He entered to a radical celebration. He encountered overwhelming heartache. He embodied righteous anger. He excited combative religious leaders. He encouraged those who suffered and expounded on what was to come. He embraced his friends and endured their betrayal and denial. Finally, he entered into his arrest with remarkable calm.

So much of what Jesus journeys through on this road, we can relate to. We can relate to doing well and having success. We can relate to being misunderstood. We can relate to times when we’ve been honoured or celebrated and to times when we have been absolutely in tears due to heartbreak. We’ve been angry - both righteously and unrighteously so. We’ve spoken and not been heard. We’ve drawn close to friends and we’ve injured pain from those same friends. While most of us have not been unjustly arrested, we may be able to relate to being treated unjustly. His road is our road and yet, when we read Jesus’ story, what he endured goes so far beyond most of our story that we realize it isn’t the same. Jesus’ road to the cross enters into human reality in such deep and profound ways that the writer of Hebrews could describe him as being, “in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters.” The writer goes on to say, “Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”

We read about Jesus’ journey on the road toward the cross and we find in him someone who can truly empathize with us and be with us as a help as we journey our own road.

With this in mind, I’d like to encourage each of us to slowly encounter Jesus on the road to the cross over the next two weeks. I’d like to invite us to slowly read and reread Luke 19-23. Rather than racing towards the cross, walk with Jesus towards it. Maybe begin today by reading Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus. Read it slowly a few times and consider what passages, characters, and words jump out to you. What does this encounter reveal to us about Jesus? Is there anything in this encounter that jumps out to you, given your current reality? Read it slowly and prayerfully at least three times and listen for God to stir something in your heart. Then tomorrow, read the next short section in the same way. Do this, step by step over the next couple of weeks as we move towards Easter and see what you can hear and learn by journeying down the road with Jesus in this way.

If there is something that really impacts you, I encourage you to share it with those closest to you - possibly family or friends, a small group or a fellow ministry leader. If you’d like to share it with me you are more than welcome to do so! You can email me at jon@covenantchurch.ca to let me know what God has been speaking into your life.

But even if nothing clearly transforming is spoken into your heart, this slow journey towards Easter can be a reminder that the road to resurrection is not an easy one or a smooth one or a fast one. Even Jesus had to go through a lot to get there. The fact that you are going through it should not be surprising. In fact, it was embraced by the early church as “sharing in the sufferings of Christ.” As you go through it, take heart in the Easter reminder that resurrection is coming on the other side!

As we continue through this Lent and Easter Season here are some reminders:

• On Good Friday, April 7 we are joining with the Anglican Parish of the Town of Penetanguishene and First Presbyterian Church at noon at All Saints Anglican Church located at 1 Peel St in Penetang. This joint Good Friday Service will be a traditional service with prayers and scripture reading and music led by the First Presbyterian musicians and choir. We are looking forward to a reflective and beautiful Good Friday time together with these other Protestant churches in town. The service will also be live-streamed.
• On Easter Sunday, April 9 we will be celebrating the resurrection with our service at 10:30 am at our Covenant Church building.
• One more thing to let you know about over the next couple of weeks. As you know, we have the privilege of working with and serving a number of amazing students in our church and in our community. One of those students, Jenna, is working hard to collect food and toiletry items for the Georgian Bay Food Network, which serves our community. Jenna is in grade 9 and is also one of our student youth leaders. We are so proud of the work she is doing to serve others. We are inviting you to support Jenna in serving our community by bringing non-perishable food items or toiletry items into the church over the next couple of weeks. We’ll have a donation bin there and after Easter, Jenna will be delivering the donated items. Throughout the year we donate to St. Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army Foodbank. We aren’t stopping our partnership with those groups. But we are taking the next couple of weeks to support and encourage Jenna in her initiative. Anything you can bring to donate would be welcome and would be a huge encouragement to her!

As you go through this week, may you, with God’s help, embrace the journey you are on knowing that Christ is in it with you. By his strength may you have, as the well-known prayer says, “The serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” May the peace of Christ be with you each step of the way.