From Celebrity to Criminal

 

This post is reprinted from March 19, 2018 and April 2, 2012. The references to celebrities with criminal records are dated, but the point is timeless.

__________

No, this post isn’t about Lindsay Lohan or Mike Tyson or Paris Hilton. A hundred years from now, they will have faded from the public memory.

That’s something they don’t share with the man who rode into town to cheering crowds on a Sunday, only to be mocked and executed as a criminal before the week was up. Events we are still talking about 2000 years later.

Talking about and celebrating. My father took this picture while my family was attending the Palm Sunday festivities in Jerusalem in 1958.

Lindsay and Mike and Paris didn’t lose their celebrity status when they were convicted of their crimes, and neither did Jesus of Nazareth.

But here is the crucial difference: Jesus was sinless. He had no guilt to convict him.

Well, that isn’t quite true.

He was guilty of love. A love so great that he paid the penalty for the sins of all humankind.

His heart was heavy and he died in anguish. But he did it by choice.

For me. For you.

And that’s something to remember not just during Holy Week but every day of the year.

A Majestic King

 

This is Holy Week, which runs from Palm Sunday (yesterday) through Saturday. So this week I’m concentrating on one of my favorite Palm Sunday hymns: “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty.”

The term “majesty” has several meanings, but the ones listed first in my dictionary are 1) “the greatness and dignity of a sovereign” and 2) “the sovereignty and power of God.” On Palm Sunday, Jesus came in humility, riding on a donkey. In those days, kings rode into a city on a donkey if they were coming in peace and on a horse if they were coming as conquerors. Yet even though Jesus came in peace, His entry on a donkey also foreshadowed His role as conqueror/.

The hymn contrasts Jesus' greatness and dignity with His humility and obedience, while showing that they were really the same thing. Here are the words:

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

Hark! all the tribes Hosanna cry;

O Savior meek, pursue Thy road,

With palms and scattered garments strowed.

 

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die.

Oh Christ, Thy triumphs now begin

Oe’r captive death and conquered sin.

 

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

The angel armies of the sky

Look down with sad and wond’ring eyes

To see the approaching sacrifice.

 

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh.

The Father on His sapphire throne

Awaits his own anointed Son.

 

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die.

Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain,

Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign!

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The image at the top of this post, titled “Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem,” originated as a fresco from the hermitage of St. Baudelius of Berlanga and was subsequently transferred to canvas, which is now at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The fresco was created in the 12^th century. I don’t know when the copy was made, but the image is in the public domain because of its age.

Good Friday Sorrow

 

This is a busy week, so my next two blog posts will use two of my favorite hymns. This week I will concentrate on Good Friday, and next week I’ll do Easter.

“O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken” reminds me that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, not His. It’s an act of love that I find hard to fathom, yet one for which I’ll be eternally grateful. Here are four of the many verses.

O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession,
What dark transgression?
 
Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish;
Yes, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit,
This I do merit.
 
What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander;
The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.
 
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted;
God is committed.

Have a blessed Holy Week.

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 The picture at the top of this post is a 16^th century painting attributed to Frans Pourbus the Elder. It is in the public domain because of its age.

Inherited Debts?

I read my devotions from a denominational magazine, and Tuesday’s talked about how God’s heirs must expect and accept suffering. I agree with that point. However, the writer was obviously not a lawyer. He said that, as heirs to human estates, we may “inherit wealth or debts still owed.” That’s wrong. Although we may choose to be responsible for someone else’s debts, we don’t inherit them.

A better analogy might be inheriting a house that happens to be mortgaged. If we want the house, we may have to accept the debt that comes with it. However, nobody is required to accept an inheritance, and if we turn down the house we will avoid the debt as well. Still, if the value of the house is significantly greater than the mortgage, why would we reject it?

That’s what Holy Week tells us. If we want to inherit God’s house as his children, we have to accept suffering as well.

Romans 8:16-17 says:

¹⁶The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

Jesus must have thought our salvation was worth everything He suffered on Good Friday. And although I don’t like to suffer, I am willing to accept the sufferings in this world to inherit the far greater glory of the next.

What about you?

From Celebrity to Criminal

This post is reprinted from April 2, 2012.

__________

No, this post isn’t about Lindsay Lohan or Mike Tyson or Paris Hilton. A hundred years from now, they will have faded from the public memory.

That’s something they don’t share with the man who rode into town to cheering crowds on a Sunday, only to be mocked and executed as a criminal before the week was up. Events we are still talking about 2000 years later.

Talking about and celebrating. My father took this picture while my family was attending the Palm Sunday festivities in Jerusalem in 1958.

Lindsay and Mike and Paris didn’t lose their celebrity status when they were convicted of their crimes, and neither did Jesus of Nazareth.

But here is the crucial difference: Jesus was sinless. He had no guilt to convict him.

Well, that isn’t quite true.

He was guilty of love. A love so great that he paid the penalty for the sins of all humankind.

His heart was heavy and he died in anguish. But he did it by choice.

For me. For you.

And that’s something to remember not just during Holy Week but every day of the year.

From Celebrity to Criminal

No, this post isn't about Lindsay Lohan or Mike Tyson or Paris Hilton. A hundred years from now (or less), they will have faded from the public memory.

Something they don't share with the man who rode into town to cheering crowds on a Sunday, only to be mocked and executed as a criminal before the week was up. Events we are still talking about 2000 years later.

Talking about and celebrating. My father took this picture while my family was attending the Palm Sunday festivities in Jerusalem in 1958.

Lindsay and Mike and Paris didn't lose their celebrity status when they were convicted of their crimes, and neither did Jesus of Nazareth.

But here is the crucial difference: Jesus was sinless. He had no guilt to convict him.

Well, that isn't quite true.

He was guilty of love. A love so great that he paid the penalty for the sins of all humankind.

His heart was heavy and he died in anguish. But he did it by choice.

For me. For you.

And that's something to remember not just during Holy Week but every day of the year.