Read the Sad Story

I don’t like sad stories.  When I watch a movie or read a book, I don’t want to feel sad or cry.  I mean, I know that every good story has some kind of conflict that must be resolved, which I am fine with as long as it is about some kind of action or fight.  But if the conflict is about something sad, then I am done with it.  There is enough sad stuff in real life…I don’t want to watch it for pleasure. 

The prophet Isaiah said we would be tempted to do the same with the Suffering Servant (Jesus).  He said that we would not want to see a Messiah that is beaten, bloody, spit upon and pierced.  It’s true…who wants a hero that dies?  We dream up the kind of hero who is faster than a speeding bullet and stronger than steel.  We imagine a hero who puts evil to death; not the other way around. 

And so even though Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years prior that the true Messiah would be known for his suffering, the people of Israel could not…would not see God in the one dying on the cross.

And perhaps it is just as hard for us to see Jesus in his suffering.  We know the rest of the story.  We know he comes out of the grave.  We are quick, and rightly so, to celebrate the resurrection, but how can we grasp the power of the resurrection without taking time to see what we don’t like to look at and that is a Savior who suffers. 

Unless we pause to look into His suffering eyes, then we cannot understand how human he was.  And if we do not understand how human he was then we will be tempted to think that somehow he was not human like us.  And if we think he was not human like us then we will begin to think he does not truly understand what it is to suffer as we sometimes suffer in this life.  And if we do not think he understands, then how can we experience him with us when we do suffer?

Easter is great, but there would be no Easter without Good Friday.  Resurrections only follow deaths. 

So, I invite you to join us for Maundy (Latin meaning “Commandment”) Thursday. All ages will hear the commandments of Christ as we remember the Last Supper before he would be crucified.  We will see Jesus wrap a towel around his waist taking on the role of a slave who washes feet.  We will hear the wine poured into the glass just as his blood would be poured out for us.  We will see the bread be broken just as would happen to his body.  We will taste his death and in so doing we will be prepared to receive his life. 

So, this week is a sad story.  Don’t be afraid to go there…in fact, linger there this week.  Some texts that may help you do so are Isaiah 53, John 13 and Luke 22.  Why not walk through the suffering of Jesus as though it was the first time you had ever heard?  Sit in it.  Feel the pain.  Watch the blood drip from his crown of thorns.  Hear him scream out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” And the more you see the ugliness of the cross, you will see the beauty of our God’s love.