“He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.”

The only way I know to get to Easter is through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The church’s proclamation has always been that a person needs to walk the Via Dolorosa (the pathway of suffering) before boisterously proclaiming, “Christ is risen, Christ is risen, indeed.”

Perhaps a person might even say that the sorrowful events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are just out-of-step with our feel-good society. And of course they’re right. No one enjoys listening to the dreadful story of our Lord’s Passion. In fact it is no more enjoyable than attending the wake of a beloved friend or neighbor.

But this conviction of faith still holds true: the pathway to Easter includes the somber Last Supper, the uncomfortable tension of seeing Jesus wash his disciples feet, the agonizing prayer in Gethsemane, and the violence inflicted upon Jesus on Good Friday.

These stories of Christ will never be popular because Christianity speaks of costly love. A church is not meant to be a self-help sort of organization. We are here for service. We are here for Christ. We are here because Christ expects us to take up the cross and follow. The events between sundown Maundy Thursday and sundown Good Friday have a gut-wrenching feel to them....

“Then Satan entered into Judas...he went away and conferred....how he might betray him to them....”
“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat....”
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.”
“Now...they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” They kept heaping many other insults on him.”
“When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals...”
“The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

I don’t know how it is for you, but Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are for me the longest days of the year and I can’t wait for them to pass. And yet I know they must be endured. Why? Because they were critical for Jesus. Why? Because Jesus experiences fully on these days the depth of our humanity. Why? Because Jesus fulfills all righteousness on these days for the purpose of our salvation. And that is reason enough to walk the Via Dolorosa.