A Passionate Passion Week
What a March this has been! Tradition called for Romans to put down their swords in a ceasefire with whomever they were fighting during January and February, which meant that their wars would have resumed on March 1. Many experts believe that the Romans named March after Mars, the Roman god of war. March was for them a return to battle.
What a March it continues to be at CTK! This March we remember, worship and commemorate that our Lord and Warrior Jesus Christ returned to earth to battle Satan, the Sanhedrin, many of His own disciples and yes, the Romans…in the most important conflict of all time. It was a battle to win the epic universal war against sin and death once and for all. St. Paul writes that “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Newsreel pictures show the overwhelming emotions expressed all over the world when the Allies defeated Hitler in Word War Two. No more bloody battles, no more hellish war, no more death and separation from loved ones. Peace had been declared, our enemy had been defeated…and because of the horrible cost of that victory all the emotions of the world were released in celebration and relief.
How do we get that kind of emotional response to the eternal peace won for us at horrible cost by God in Christ? The battle of Lent runs all through March this year and ends with what the church calls “Passion Week.” Our Lord certainly must have run the gamut of emotions as He shared a Last Supper with His disciples, then saw them abandon Him in His darkest hours. From His Garden prayers to the cross was a tremendous swing in our Lord’s relationship with God His heavenly Father. First He passionately cried out to Him, calling Him in an intimate way Abba (which loosely translated means Daddy), and then He was torn apart for the sins of the world by that same heartbroken Father, rejected and forsaken on our behalf. Let that sink in….
That’s passion. That’s compassion. He seems to have way more of it towards us and our battles than we ever have towards Him and His. What can change that? We miss so much when all we receive is information without inspiration. This Passion Week will be especially emotional for me. I pray that it will be for you also. Lose yourself in worship and prayer this holy month until you are emotionally and spiritually spent; broken for a time with Christ Jesus your Lord and Warrior all through March. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are the darkness before the dawn…but, oh, that Easter morning Dawn! Peace has been declared between God and humankind! May all the emotions of the world be released in celebration and relief. God is passionate about your salvation! If the words “He has Risen Indeed! Alleluia!” don’t choke you up more than a little bit on the last day of this month of March…you aren’t paying attention.
Pastor Chuck
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