A WEEK TO REMEMBER

Let me begin by asking you this question:  What is the most memorable week of your life?  Now, that is a difficult question to answer.  Most of us can remember a special day, whether it’s a birthday, and anniversary, the day you graduated High School, or College, or Grad School.  Maybe it was the day you graduated from Boot Camp or Basic Training.  We also remember not so good days, like the death of a loved one, or the day you received bad prognosis for a loved one, or even the day your marriage ended.  Most of us remember days, but to remember a week is something completely different.  Now, for the University of Alabama, maybe it was the week leading up to the 2019 College Football National Championship Game, where they thought they were going to be the National Champions – and then they meet the Clemson Tigers.  Just had to go ahead and make that plug.  For most of us, to remember a week would probably be relating to a vacation, the week you hiked the Appalachian Trail, or the week you went to Myrtle Beach Bike Week, or the week you spent in Italy, or Florida, or Gatlinburg.

Passion Week is probably the most memorable and most significant week in the life of the most important and significant person who has ever lived.  It was the week that the entirety of 33 years of Jesus’ life had been marching toward.  All of His life had been looking ahead to this one week.  It began with His entry into Jerusalem, to the praises of the people.  Then it progressed to the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the mock trial before the Religious leaders.  Then it went to Pontius Pilate and then to Herod, and then before the crowds that began shouting “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”  The same people who were singing His praises are now yelling for Him to be put to death.  This then lead to the death of Jesus on Calvary’s Cross.  After which, he was carried and buried in the Tomb of Joseph of Arimethea.  Folks, the most important week in the life of the most important person that ever lived should rock your world.  Let me share a couple of thoughts with you from Mark’s account of the crucifixion.

Mark 15:33 says, “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”  This was between 12 noon and 3 in the afternoon.  Yet the Bible says, “. . . there was darkness over the whole land . . .”  I find it ironic that when Jesus Christ was born, the Glory of the LORD shone round about the shepherds at night while they were tending their sheep.  And here at His death, there was 3 hours of darkness.  I remember just 2 years ago when we experienced the Solar Eclipse, which last for 2 minutes and 47 seconds.  Can you imagine the sun refusing to shine right in the middle of the day for 3 hours?  Somehow I can’t help but to think that when Jesus was born, God was letting us know that He was sending His light into the world and when Jesus died, He was letting us know that His light was now lifted from the world.

There is something else that I see in this account of the crucifixion.  Mark tells us in verse 37 “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.”  I have been by the bedside of several people as they took their last breathe here on earth.  It was an unmistakable experience.  What I never considered was the fact that darkness had fallen over the whole land.  So, it never occurred to me that the witnesses at the Cross didn’t actually see Jesus die – they heard Him die.  But there was no mistake that He was dead.  He was dead to the point that the Roman Centurion said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”

Immediately following Jesus’ death, verse 38 says, “And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”  During the life of Jesus, the Temple was the central place of worship for the Jewish people.  This is where the sacrifices took place.  It was here the people worshipped according to the Law of Moses.  Hebrews 9 tells us that a veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies – or the most Holy Place.  So the veil represented that man and his sin was separated from God and His Holiness.  Only once a year the High Priest was authorized to go between the veil into the presence of God on behalf of Israel to make atonement for their sins.  Now, immediately following the death of Christ, God Himself tore the temple veil from top to bottom, giving us all access to the throne of God, Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old, educated and uneducated, rich and poor.  Through the death of Jesus Christ, you and I have access to the throne of God anytime and anywhere.  So the veil was symbolic of Jesus.  John 14:6, Jesus said, “John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  It is impossible to go to God without going through Jesus.  Hebrews 10:19-22 says, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

In Mark 15:39, the Bible says, “And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.”  Now this is amazing.  This Roman Centurion, who had mocked Jesus, who had beaten Jesus, who had plaited a crown of thorn and beat it onto His head, who had nailed Jesus to the Cross, who had plunged a spear into His side, who played games at the feet of Jesus is now at a CROSS Road in his life.  And he said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”  For everyone reading this post, you fit into one of two categories – you have either accepted Jesus as the Son of God or you haven’t.

Lord Jesus, today I pray that if there is someone reading this post that has not acknowledged the fact that you truly are the Son of God, I pray that today will be their day of salvation.  I pray Lord that each person reading this post that God commended His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Thank You for giving us access to the throne room of God.  It is in the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.