A phrase that was popularized in the 1990’s was “What Would Jesus Do”. The phrase started in 1890 by Charles Monroe Sheldon, a minister of the Central Congregational Church in Topeka Kansas. He was doing a sermon series and it became the refrain of the congregation after each of his sermons. These stories were later published serially in a religious weekly in 1896. A year later, they were collected and published as a book, titled In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?.
I think most of us would agree that as believers and being a disciple of Jesus, this is what we want to do. It is what we ask ourselves. Throughout scripture we are reminded of this:
Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (NRS)
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, (NRS)
1 Jn. 2:6 whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. (NRS)
Last Sunday we read the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. I like to call it Leap-Frog Sunday because it leap-frogs from the Triumphal Entry to the Crucifixion. We hear about the Last Supper, the betrayal, Jesus praying in Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus’ capture and torture ending in the crucifixion and burial in the tomb. In essence, the reading of the Passion gives some permission not to walk with Jesus through the Triduum, the last three days of His life. What we miss if we leap-frog to Resurrection Sunday, Easter, is the experience of walking with Jesus through His last three days and deepening our understanding and our faith.
Which brings me to another thought. Have you ever wondered what Jesus was doing in the days between the Triumphal Entry to the Last Supper which is the beginning of His last three days. It is something that has been on my mind. In the Gospel of Matthew 21:12 – 26:16, Jesus is at the Temple where is confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducees questioning Him about His authority (Matt. 21:23-27), about the resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33), and Jesus reminding them how they were to have been a shepherd to the flock God had entrusted to them.
We find Jesus cleansing the temple by turning over the tables of the money changers calling the temple a den of thieves by the inflated cost of those selling to those who travelled a long distance a sacrifice for the temple. Turning it into marketplace instead of the House of Worship.
Lastly, we see Jesus teaching parables to those in the temple courtyard and surrounding area who would listen. He is teaching in the crowd and foretelling of signs of the Close of the Age, the Coming of the Son of man, The Final Judgment. He continues to reach out to the skeptics, the curious, His followers, and His antagonists wanting to remove Him and those who wanted Him dead.
In summation Jesus, knowing He will be brought before the council of elders, turned over to Pilot, be crucified, did not turn away. Matt. 16:21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (NRS) With His face set like flint He continued to do the work He came to do; calling all to repentance for the Kingdom of God is at hand. It was not “What Jesus Would Do”, it is “What Jesus Did”.
How will you spend the Triduum? Come, experience “What Jesus Did” for you and whole world.
The Rev. Dave Newhart 