Easter Surprise–how Holy Week still shocks us

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 by Sue Schlesman Start the Conversation

Surprise! It’s already Easter week.

Holy Week.

I’m shocked, and not in a holy way.

How did I get so busy that I didn’t prepare my heart and soul for the most pivotal week of human history? How did I get so wrapped up in church problems and programs that I haven’t set aside the time to meditate, give thanks, and even grieve over what Jesus suffered for me and what I refuse to suffer for him? How have I continued to complain, excuse and defend myself and my perspectives, even while I ignore the mercy and grace offered by Jesus on the cross for me? For me. And he knew who I was going to be and how I was going to behave.

Why are we surprised by the pain and power of Holy Week? Or are we not surprised at all?

Am I busy buying a new dress, filling Easter baskets, or planning a family dinner?

It’s time to pause and consider all this week means to us personally and historically as the Church of Jesus Christ.

Breathe it in. Not the holiday stuff. The real essence and power of the week. Lord, help me put myself back there and breathe it in.

Read John 18-19 and feel the injustice, the suffering, the resoluteness of Jesus’ sacrifice. Imagine the cat-of-nine-tails tearing off your flesh, right down to the bone. Six-inch thorns crushing through your skull. Facial hair being ripped out by the roots. Multitudes jeering, throwing things, spitting, mocking you. People believing you’re a criminal and not believing you are who you proved yourself to be.

Feel the disciples’ despair and disbelief, as if you are one of them. Have you gotten it all wrong? Had God abandoned you? Was your faith for nothing? We’ve all been there and felt that. We’ve seen proof of God’s existence and power, and then crisis has left us wondering if it were actually true.

Here’s the beauty of disbelief: God gives us the space to wonder. To analyze. To reject him. To find him where he’s been all along.

Can you feel the fright of hiding in a locked room, awaiting soldiers’ footsteps on the stairs? Imagine the further despair and confusion of discovering an empty tomb. The terror of Jesus’ apparent ghost walking through the door.

Then feel the absolute joy of touching him. Of comprehending, even in the most finite perimeters of understanding, that Jesus is alive! That God himself is standing in your midst and calling you to greater things!

Jesus hasn’t changed in 2000 years.

Jesus is still showing up when we least expect him, at the places where he promised to be. We are still surprised by him.

He resurrects himself into our lives so that his presence and power are unmistakable. Next, read John 20. Jesus raised himself from the dead. Nobody let him out of that grave and did CPR. Nobody dressed up like him and appeared to 400 people so their resurrection story would stick. No, Jesus actually raised himself from the dead, like he promised he would.

So God is capable of any resurrection. So he can change anything in your life.

He can change me. Petty, despondent little me. He can re-ignite my dead places and restore my broken places. He can reform my defeated places. I don’t have to wonder if he will or be surprised when he does. Neither do you. He died for all of us and he resurrected for all of us.

He promised to resurrect us from our dead selves.

If you’d like to prepare your spirit and soul for Holy Week, it’s not too late. Click on the blogs below that lead you to worship that is unique to this week. A few years ago I wrote a special blog series called “Witnesses of the Cross” that leads you through Holy Week, from the perspectives of Jesus’ friends and family.

Below, I also included a myriad of other Easter-related blogs. Pick and choose what you think will speak to you and prepare your heart and soul for the most important weekend mankind has ever known.