Through a Glass Darkly—Rev. Chase PeeplesHoly Week is such a strange time. It is a jumble of emotions, rituals and remembrances. We parade around the sanctuary on Palm Sunday, read of Jesus’ betrayal and suffering on Maundy Thursday as we turn out the lights, meditate on Jesus’ last words and his horrible death on Good Friday, and then we sing Hallelujahs on Easter morning. Holy Week is a roller coaster ride emotionally for those who choose to take part in it.
I believe that the reason Holy Week seems so schizophrenic is because we are intentional about focusing upon both life and death. On the one hand we ruminate over humanity’s potential for violence, betrayal and evil. On the other hand, we reflect upon God’s ability to bring good out of the most tragic and painful situations. If we are honest with ourselves, these are things that run through our minds all the time, but during Holy Week, the thin line between life and death just seems more pronounced. This week we take off our blinders and realize that both life and death are a part of reality for every human—including ourselves.
In the example of Jesus during his last days, we see a life fully lived, even though death lurks nearby. Jesus demonstrates what living is all about, because he is willing to suffer and even die for those who he loves. The theologian Langdon Gilkey wrote about life and death from a Christian perspective, and I find his thoughts helpful as we contemplate both Jesus’ last days and the days of life that God gives to us:
“It is impossible to be fully human unless one is ready to face the prospect of death. No person or value can be defended unless one is ready to suffer and if necessary to die for that person or value—whether we speak of one’s family or the integrity of another person or of freedom and justice in the community. None of these values of life can be effectively furthered without courage, the readiness to risk oneself for that in which one believes or for those to whom one is loyal--and this means facing the prospect of death. Hence courage is the basis of any virtue, the courage to sand where we must stand. In this sense, there is no real life unless it confronts and absorbs, takes in and makes a part of itself, death…For this reason the biblical God is the Lord of life but also the Lord over death; God is the giver of both to God’s mortal creatures. Life and death in God’s world are thus not completely antithetical, and the value of life depends in part on our faith and our courage in facing the certainty of death.” (Langdon Gilkey, Blue Twilight: Nature, Creationism, and American Religion, p. 171.)
Death is a part of everyday reality for most people in the world. Even those of us who believe in eternal life must still deal with death. As Gilkey notes, what determines whether or not something really matters to us is our willingness or lack thereof to suffer and die for that person or thing. We cannot avoid death. That is one big reason why Holy Week is so important to our faith. We believe in the hope that the resurrection offers to us—hope in a God that can bring something wonderful out of death, even a violent one like death on a cross—but we do not ignore the pain and death present in our world. In order to appreciate the value of life, we must be aware of the presence of death.
In Jesus’ last days, we see a person who lives courageously for the sake of those whom he loves, so courageously that he ends up dying. If we are to learn anything from Jesus’ actions, we must consider what those values are and who those people are whom we would be willing to die for? Only then, can we begin truly living for them. Would we be willing to die if it would mean someone we loved—our spouse, our children—might live? If so, then are we making them a priority in our lives? Would we be willing to die so that others might not suffer from injustice, poverty, disease and hunger? If so, then what are we doing in our daily lives to help those people? Would we be willing to die for the sake of making the love of God known to those who are oppressed and in need of hope? If so, what time do we actually make for God?
Thankfully, we do not live in a society where we are forced to regularly make life and death decisions regarding our families, our neighbors or our faith, but there are people around the world who do not have such a luxury. Perhaps, one of our problems as Christians living in an affluent Western culture is that we have so many ways to insulate ourselves from death or at least to pretend that we do not have to face death. Holy Week reminds us that death is a part of life, and that like Jesus, our best lives are lived courageously on behalf of others and in the face of death.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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