The Religious Nerd

This is a short guest post by my friend pastor Mark Barrett:

I am somewhat of a traditionalist. There are some traditions lingering in my protestant faith that are remnants of my years as a Roman Catholic. One of those traditions is my observance of Holy Week.

Let me explain. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. It is a week set aside for profound contemplation of those moments our Lord endured leading up to the cross and His subsequent resurrection. It is during this time that we not only remember our Lord, who died on Good Friday to atone for our sins, but we also remember and celebrate Resurrection Sunday, when through the open, empty tomb, our Lord Jesus would give new life to all who would believe. Thus, while Holy Week is a time of weighty contemplation and meditation on the one hand, it is also a time great joy and worship.  It is during this week that I contemplate the heaviness of my own sin and the burden that it bears on my own soul.  Through this deep reflection, Christ becomes my treasure…that which I value above all things.

You see beloved, when sin becomes our burden (Romans 7), only then will Christ become our delight (Romans 8).  If I think lightly of my sin, I will in turn, think lightly of my Savior. The resurrection provides for us joy unspeakable–when we think that someday our worship will be sinless, our joy will be limitless, and our love for Christ will be perfect all because of the cross and the empty tomb. How glorious will it be when we are freed from our own incarcerated humanity and with resurrected joy worship Christ in the glories of heaven!

Holy week provides for all of us a time of recognition, mediation and worship. “And although we have complete salvation through his death, because we are reconciled to God by it, it is by His resurrection, not His death, that we are said to be born to a living hope” (John Calvin commentary on 1 Peter. 1:3).

God, in His unmerited grace, love, and mercy has sent His Son to die for our salvation and bring us to God, something we were incapable of doing in our own strength and wisdom. Holy week is a time for us to reflect on this massive truth and in the face of the craziness of this life and the silliness of Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs and unbiblical frivolity, don’t you think this would be a good time to get serious about the gravity of the cross and the glorious, wonderful, implications of the empty tomb?
As C.S. Lewis once wrote, “If the thing (resurrection) happened, it was the central event in the history of the earth.”

Please join with me in the observance of Holy Week as we look forward to the coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ and the resurrection of our mortal bodies!

May God be with your spirits in Christ,

Pastor Mark Barrett