Behold the Bridegroom

This is Holy Week for the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians. The overriding theme for the first half of the week is how Jesus was treated by His creation. Some saw Him as their precious Lord, like the woman in John 12 who washed His feet with essence of lavender worth more than most cars today.

Others, whose hypocrisy was exposed and condemned by His preaching, wanted to see Him humiliated and discredited. At first, they tried to do this through His witnesses, like the man born blind (John 9). This attempt gained them nothing, as the man understood their motives and answered them with taunting sarcasm, asking if they also wanted to be His disciples. They were so enraged and flustered that they could only call him a bastard ("born in sin," 9:34) and kick him out.

The biggest proof of His authority was Lazarus' return to life. As Lord and Creator, He has the unique power of both life and death. Such authority had never been seen in the world, and word spread very quickly from the suburb (Bethany) to Jerusalem, which was gearing up for Passover. The Pharisees and Sadducees were afraid of the effect this would have on the common rabble (Luke 19) so they conspired to murder both the evidence and the Author (John 12:9-11).

This Man, Who created the world, Who fashioned Adam from the dust and Eve from his rib, Whose heart broke for His stubborn people, found Himself falsely accused, arrested, bound, whipped, shredded, punched, and insulted. The people He came to save, whom He loves as a husband loves his wife, reduced Him to this:

This is the Bridegroom beckoning to the Church. This is the King of Israel, Whose royalty was hated by the Roman soldiers, mocking Him with pathetic imitations of His true kingship. This is our great High Priest, Whose office was perverted by the chief priests with political maneuvering and shady alliances.

This is the Man without Whom all hope is false, because this is our God Who loves us and labors for us as nobody else can.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5, KJV)

We are His followers, and He gives us the strength to face those who hate Him, using our testimony and example to transform them by His love and sacrifice. As Him Whose divine convenant was broken, He is the only One Who can set aside our transgressions and restore us to our intended positions as His Beloved in His kingdom.

Posted on 04/19/2006 at 11:40:26 PM EDT.