Finding Faith
Lost in the mystically beautiful and heartbreakingly tragic story of Holy Week is a facet I think all too often gets overshadowed by the joy of Christ’s resurrection.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that Jesus rising from the grave to conquer sin and death on this earth is trivial. By no means! That act is the pinnacle of Christian belief.
But this year in particular, I want to point to another storyline that feels rather poignant as we conclude Holy Week with Easter Sunday.
And that is for us to remember that one man -- while yes it being Jesus, of course -- but still one man who walked this earth like us, who bled like us, who cried like us, upended one of the most powerful empires the world has ever known.
Despite its existence for hundreds of years (and more in the Eastern part of the world) and having control of an estimated 60 to 70 million people at its zenith, Jesus toppled the Roman Empire through one single act of sacrificial love: His willingness to atone for all of our messy human brokenness by the pouring out of his own blood.
Take a hot minute to reflect on that. And I pray that reflection regenerates in your very being the hope that is inherently a part of our faith. … After all, we are Easter people!
No doubt times feel heavy, both on an individual level and more globally. There is a measured pall of anger and suspicion and hatred and distrust that hangs over not just America, but worldwide.
Social media and the 24/7 constant feed of negative headlines doesn’t help.
We are retreating into smaller and smaller tribes of like-minded people, viewing our neighbors as strangers who cannot be trusted.
We believe less in the goodness of those around us, and we are far more pessimistic about our future course.
And most importantly, we forget that there are those who will this into being and who profit from our division.
But the Good News (which is what “gospel” literally means) that Jesus shares with us is that we do not have to accept this state of the world as inevitable.
Jesus lived among troubling times too. His people had been subjected to brutal slavery and oppression for centuries. The Roman Empire also displayed the greediness, the blind eye for humanity and the lust for conquest that those in power today display.
And yet, Jesus changed the world … in less than a single day.
Friends, the Easter story is not only a story of the messiah who died to save us all.
The Easter story also is a biblical parable that should remind each of us that we can speak truth to power, defend those without voices and lift up the forgotten. Christ is risen, indeed! Amen.
Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at [email protected].
