Holy Week: Consider the Holy Love of God Manifested on the Cross

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

–1 Corinthians 1.18-19 (NIV)

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

–Philippians 3.1-9 (NIV)

Today begins Holy Week as we move to Good Friday–the most holy day of the year. This week’s reflections will be short on purpose. It is better to spend time reflecting on the story of the Passion than to spend time on anything I might say.

In today’s passage from Philippians, Paul gets to the heart of the matter. Our one and only hope to have our exile from God brought to an end is the cross of Jesus. But the cross is often offensive to our human pride. Deep down we do not like to admit we cannot fix ourselves or our problems. Deep down we often don’t believe we are really all that bad and we can find it offensive that God’s forgiveness and offer of reconciliation must only come from him. Here Paul gives us his autobiography of self-help and self-righteousness, ultimately pronouncing both to be utterly futile and worthless. Paul is quite earthy in his description of the worthlessness of self-help and self-righteousness, and uses shocking language. The Greek word he uses for garbage, skybalon, means literally, “useless or undesirable material that is subject to disposal, refuse, garbage (in various senses, ‘excrement, manure, garbage, kitchen scraps’)” (BDAG, 932).

As we saw Friday, God’s holiness cannot and will not countenance any form of evil, and that is for our good. God will always be implacably opposed to evil and our rebellious sin. But God is also loving and merciful and this Friday we will be confronted with the terrible cost of that love. If we are humble enough to accept God’s offer of forgiveness to us through Jesus, the cross is not scandalous; it is Good News. God has done the impossible for us to end our exile from him. He has borne our just punishment himself on the cross and made it possible for us to live directly in his holy Presence forever. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Think deeply on these things this week. Take time to read the passion narratives and Paul’s explication in Romans and elsewhere on why the cross is so important to us. Give thanks to God for his holy love manifested on the cross for you. Then each day this week, especially on Good Friday, bring your hurts, your sorrows, your fears, your failures, and your brokenness and lay them all at the foot of the cross. Ask the One who loves you and gave himself for you to bear them for you, and to crucify all that is in you that prevents you from giving yourself to him in loving obedience. When you do this, you will come to realize that you are really free to obey your Lord with joy. The burden is off your back. By his wounds you are healed.