March 31, 1999
EDITORIAL:
Celebrate two victories this week
___Christians celebrate two victories this Holy Week.
___We will celebrate the ultimate victory on Easter Sunday morning. With bells and singing and happy tidings, we will join the chorus of saints who through the centuries joyfully and gratefully proclaimed: "Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!"
___This victory of Easter towers above all other events as the greatest moment in history. It is the turning point of eternity. Christ descended into death on Friday and on Sunday morning walked alive out of the grave, absolutely and perfectly defeating evil. His nail-scarred, sword-pierced body bore the marks of suffering, yet in resurrection it beautifully and permanently overwhelmed the binding, killing power of sin.
___Thank God for Easter. Easter means God is greater than Satan. Easter means love conquers hate. Easter means life triumphs over death. Easter means Jesus spoke the truth. Easter means Jesus lives. And because Jesus lives, all who turn from their sin and embrace him in faith also will live with him forever. Savor the moment of eternal gift. Celebrate the victory of Easter.
___Yet Christians will celebrate another victory this week.
___We will remember this victory on Thursday evening. All around the world-- from Jerusalem, to Beijing, to Sao Paulo, to little churches deep in the heart of Texas-- Christians will think about Christ's last supper. We will dine on bread and drink from a cup, all the while remembering the sacrifice of Jesus's body and blood for our sins. We will still the instruments, dim the lights and march from churches remembering his sacrificial death for our sakes.
___In those moments of solitude, we will celebrate a dark, somber, agonizing and lonely victory. This victory made the ultimate victory, Easter resurrection, possible.
___This victory marks the triumph of sacrifice over glory, of service over will, of others over self. Jesus waged and won this victory alone. After he served his last meal to his followers, he took three of them and retreated to his special place of prayer, a garden called Gethsemane, in a grove of olive trees on the side of a mountain.
___Jesus asked his closest friends, Peter, James and John, to pray for him. Like every follower since that hour, this trio proved their frailty and limitations. Heavy-lidded, they slumbered.
___A few feet away, Jesus waged war. He fought the fiercest battle of all, the temptation to succumb to self. Although we know Jesus was fully divine, we also realize he was fully human. Jesus the human being faced his essential temptation. He was free; he could flee. His heavenly Father sent him to earth for a purpose, but he was free. He didn't have to go through with his essential act of salvation.
___"Gethsemane" means "olive press." It's a real name, yet it also symbolizes the incomprehensible pressure Jesus felt on that lonely night. Humanly speaking, Jesus must have yearned to flee. He faced torturous death, and even the best and brightest of those he came to save could not stay awake with him as he wrestled with the greatest temptation of all time. Three times he prayed, "Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." He agonized and sweated as if he were bleeding.
___What suffering. And yet in agony he won the essential victory. Jesus the man sublimated his will to Jesus God's Son. He stood up from his prayers and turned to the Cross. Even though the battle still raged, Jesus already won the victory. He merged his will with his Father's in a cosmic convergence on which all eternity turns.
___This Sunday, we will leave our church houses bidding each other to live in the spirit of Easter all year. And well we should. Christ defeated death on Easter. Our hope for all our tomorrows rests on Easter, and we face the future with confidence.
___Still, let us also live in the spirit of Thursday night. We cannot be Easter victors. Christ already has won that battle. But we can win the battle of our own Thursday nights. We win it when we pray, "Yet not as I will, but as you will." Only when we subordinate our will to God's divine will can we live victoriously through our days.
___The joy of victory is worth the agony of the battle.
___ --Marv Knox
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