We Get It

I love movies with surprise endings. The kind where you think one thing throughout the film, and then at the very end you realize, something very different was going on all along. You know the ones I mean. Movies like “The Sixth Sense,” “A Beautiful Mind,” and “The Prestige.”  You can’t just watch a movie like that once. You have to go back and figure out what you missed the first time around. “Oh, I get it,” you hear yourself say, as the light bulbs go on one by one.

I often think about Jesus’ disciples and how they just didn’t get it, especially during Holy Week. So much went on that they did not understand. So much happened that caused them anger, fear, and sorrow.

They watched helplessly as their friend Jesus was captured, forcibly tortured, and brutally killed. They tried to fight it. They ran away. They cried. They hid. It looked as if all their hopes had been dashed. They were in despair.

But they didn’t know what was really going on. What looked to their eyes  like defeat was really a victory.

It took awhile for them to put all the pieces together. Even when they heard Jesus had risen they didn’t believe it right away. They were still hiding; afraid the Romans would come and do to them what they had done to Jesus.

But little by little they went back over the events in their minds. They recalled the things Jesus had told them. And with the help of the Holy Spirit (especially at Pentecost) they began to see what really happened.

Jesus wasn’t captured. He had gone willingly.

Jesus wasn’t forced to do anything. It was his purpose all along.

Jesus wasn’t killed. He gave up his life. For them. For us. For the entire world!

As Holy Week begins we all have the opportunity to go back and see it all unfold again with new understanding.

We watch as Jesus rides into Jerusalem, not on a noble stallion, but on a little donkey. We understand his humility.

We smell the perfume poured on his feet, and it dawns on us. Jesus let his body be anointed with oil before his death, because he would rise before the women got there to do it Easter morning!

We feel Jesus’ tender hands wash our feet, and realize, he’s not just the best friend we will ever have, but God’s Son.  God’s Son washed our feet, and told us to wash each other's feet. Now we understand. It wasn’t about clean feet. It was about living a life of love.

We try to keep watch with him in the garden, but we’re too tired. If only we had known what he was about to do for us, we would have kept watch. But we didn’t know. We should have known. He told us over and over again. But we didn’t really believe it. We didn’t want to believe it.

When the soldiers come to take him we try to stop them. We pull out our sword and attack, but Jesus reaches out in love and heals the pain we inflicted. Why does he do that? How could his love be so strong? He even loves his enemies. What wondrous love is this?

We listen in anguish as the people cry, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Even though he’s tried by the Jewish leaders (Annas, Caiaphas, and the entire Sanhedrin) as well as the Roman leaders (Pilate and Herod Antipas, who just happens to be in town), his real sentence to death comes from the people. We hear their plea, “Let his blood be on us, and on our children,” and we realize their words are as profound as any we have heard this week. Yes! Let his blood be on us and our children!

 

We watch his suffering. Has there ever been suffering like this? Light is swallowed up by darkness. And still he suffers. It seems to last forever. And then suddenly he says, "It is finished," and dies. Just like that. We see it ourselves. We know. They did not take his life. He gave it.

He gave it for us. It was his plan all along. Now we get it. Now it all makes sense.

 And we want to go back and watch it over and over again.