Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Saturday, April 1, 2023 – Evening
By John Eldridge
Don’t Get in a Hurry
Read: Matthew 26:17-28:10
The season of Lent anticipates and causes us to look forward to Easter. Ah … EASTER! Flowers everywhere. Huge Church attendance. People dressed in their Sunday best and smiles on everyone’s faces.
But we cannot get to Easter before experiencing the events of Holy Week. Indeed, there would be no Resurrection, without Jesus suffering unto death beforehand. The Last Supper, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Being arrested. Being whipped. Carrying the Cross to Golgatha. Nails being driven into his hands and feet. Jesus’ last words of comfort, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and finally, relief, “It is finished”. All this and so much more occur in Holy Week – before Easter!
We are called to experience the pain and suffering of Jesus during Holy Week, in order to be able to celebrate the Resurrection.
The name of those days before Easter, “Holy Week,” speaks volumes. Because the week is so meaningful, it is called “Holy,” a week set apart as the most special of the Christian calendar.
Prayer
Gracious God, enable us to experience all of Easter, including the most meaningful events of Holy Week, before we experience the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.
