More thoughts on Holy Week

One of the best reflections on Holy Week that I've seen recently comes from the Rev. Greg Hunt at First Baptist - Shreveport. This is an excerpt from the church's weekly bulletin.

Sunday, April 1 to Sunday, April 8 is Holy Week. Everything about our faith gets compressed into these 8 incredible days. Holy Week shows humanity at its worst
It shows God at his best. It points in dramatic fashion to the problems that ail us. It points in dramatic fashion to the remedy that is Christ.

In the history of our faith, these are the days of Jesus’ fateful confrontation with authorities. On Sunday he rides into Jerusalem to the adulation of an adoring crowd. By the end of the week he is listening to their jeers and standing condemned as a blasphemer and an insurrectionist.

In the daylight hours of Holy Week Jesus carries on a grinding public life characterized by conflict with religious leaders. In the evenings he retreats to more private places and draws strength from friends. During a Passover meal on Thursday night he gives new meaning to the bread and the wine, instituting what we now know as the Lord’s Supper. Then he loses his freedom, and finally his life.

Easter’s glory only makes sense against the backdrop of this rollercoaster of highs and lows. The brightness of its joy gains its luster from the darkness of Good Friday. Christ takes all that death can give and gets back up again, glorified and triumphant.