‘Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.’

1 Corinthians 11:28

We come at last to the Great Three Days of Holy Week!

We begin with Maundy Thursday and the Celebration of the New Meal (the transformed Passover) which allows us to participate in and benefit from the New Covenant which Jesus established through his New and Greatest of all Sacrifices (Good Friday); a New Covenant which issues in the birth of New Creation (Easter Day), the glorious victory of the Creator over all the forces that threatened his plans for his good Creation- ourselves included!

But how are we to come to these three Great Days?

Paul tells us to come having ‘examined ourselves’ – but what does that mean exactly, and how might we do that well? Are we to hide ourselves in a corner and scrupulously judge our lives, and then if – and only IF- we somehow pass the exam feel good enough to come to the Feast?

Obviously NOT!

I would take the Psalmist who wrote Psalm 102 as our guide (the psalm set for the morning office on Maundy Thursday).

Note the superscription: This is ‘a prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.’

The psalmist does not ‘examine’ himself by himself, rather he brings his life as he knows it and articulates it into the very presence of God (v. 1-11). And does so with an honesty and boldness that takes our breath away.

He cries out to be heard (sensing that he has not been) and describes his experience of the devastation of his people and of himself (he writes as one who survived the destruction of Jerusalem and the utter desolation of the Temple). He ends with his judgment that all of this is ‘because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down!’ (v.10)

 Wow!

But the psalmist does not end there!

He goes on to confession – not of his sins but of God’s greatness and faithfulness to his Covenant!

‘But YOU are enthroned forever…. YOU will arise and have pity of Zion…  the LORD builds up Zion!’ – even now, even through these devastating events!

He even stops his present day confession to ask that it be ‘recorded’- written down ‘for a generation to come’ (v18)- so confident is he of the ultimate triumph of his God.

He then returns to his own time and his own sorrow and his own request (v. 23-24) but these now are incorporated into his confession (v. 25-28). He ends in hope!

So what has the psalmist done?

He has ‘examined’ his life – he has brought his life in all of its rawness into the presence of God through prayer – and has cried out to understand it –to see it – woven into the larger and greater Story that God is writing about and enacting in and for his world!

That, it seems to me, is the way we should ‘come’ to these Great Days.

May God give us the grace and the courage to do so!

By Hank Thompson: Dear friends at Christ the Redeemer,

Last year I was asked to share a personal response to one of the Seven Sayings of Christ from the Cross at a pre-Easter service. I decided to write and read a short piece from the perspective of one of the robbers crucified with Jesus. Afterward I was encouraged to write reflections on all seven Sayings. In the course of working on the project, I was thrilled that the members of my MUSE writing class were open to hearing the Biblical content, with which they were totally unfamiliar, as they freely offered suggestions regarding writing craft. They were excited about the project and gave me a lot of encouragement to finish it.

So here it is. I have not arranged the seven pieces in the traditional order, but in the order that makes for the best reading. Four are from the perspective of those present at the day of crucifixion—Pilate and his wife, Mary mother of Jesus, the robber mentioned above, and a fictional centurion. Three involve personal experiences.

Sincerely,

Hank Thompson

Read Seven Sayings of Christ by Hank Thompson

‘Then the magicians said to Pharaoh,

“This is the finger of God.”

But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and

he would not listen to them,

as the LORD had said.’

Exodus 8:19

 We come to the heart of the human dilemma- and that heart is a heart of darkness!

Moses performs the third of the ten signs that will be needed to break Pharaoh’s will and achieve God’s end – the freeing of his enslaved people. This is the first of the signs that the magicians of Egypt cannot match! Their conclusion: ‘THIS is the finger of God” – that is, a finger of a God who is more powerful than OUR Gods!

‘But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he would not listen to them!’

It is a statement that should freeze us in our tracks.

Now I know that there are huge issues swirling around this ‘hardening’ involving the sovereignty of God and the free will of humankind.  In the story of God’s calling of Moses in chapter 3 the LORD states purposefully ‘but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go!’ (3.21).

Seen from a divine perspective it is apparent that God uses our hardness of heart to achieve HIS good and loving ends; it is also apparent that his good and loving ends are for OUR good! (Note: read verses 22 and 23 of chapter 3 and see that God is determined to reach the tenth plague- the death of the firstborn- that horror which is the mysterious type of the gracious and glorious death of the Son of God).

But seen from a human perspective, Pharaoh’s willful hardness of heart (he ‘WOULD not listen’) should deeply concern us.

Confronted by overwhelming evidence for the presence and activity and desires of God (“Let my people go!’), he nevertheless chooses to resist!

 How can this be?

We are not told the answer to this question in this text, but the lectionary has given us another that offers a suggestion. The gospel set alongside our reading is that of the Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-31).

Here we have the story of a man who is not only attracted TO Jesus (he RUNS to him and KNEELS before him), but who also knows in a deep and visceral way that there is something missing in his life.  However, he leaves Jesus in great sadness, because he could not give up the good that he had (‘sell all that you have and give to the poor’) in order to receive the greater that was promised (‘you will have treasure in heaven’).

He would not give up his ‘god’ – his idol, that which truly ruled his life – in order to embrace and follow his True God!

His heart that had been softened and awakened now was newly hardened.

As we approach Holy Week, by all means cry out to God to ‘soften our hearts’ towards his gospel.

But at the same time implore him to also ‘open your eyes, renew your mind, and strengthen your will’ so that you will see, and know and choose to follow him – come what may.