Holy Week & Our Questions

What questions fill your mind during Holy Week?

It may be hard to believe that a man, who claimed to be God, raised from the dead. Some people think that Jesus was just asleep or that he was wounded enough to be unconscious for a few days. Perhaps the witnesses got it wrong— the women were mistaken and just wished so badly for Jesus to be alive again that they had visions of him. Maybe we should give Thomas a lot more credit for his rightful doubts. Or maybe after Jesus' resurrection, he lived for a little while longer and then died a peaceful death somewhere else, years later.

It can be frustrating to work through these questions because we weren’t there. We cannot see his broken body that was laid to rest—to see him breathe his last breath. We cannot see the tears of his heartbroken mother. We can't see Jesus walk again. We can't, like Thomas did so bravely, put our flesh to his flesh.

We have to trust—like most of the history that we read about—that someone, somewhere told the truth. And this might be harder to believe when we hear it coming from a white, evangelical, American in our modern-day context. But these people were not white. Not evangelical. Not American. They were following a man who they couldn’t explain. He broke cultural and social norms. He expanded their hearts and minds through questions, tenderness, and story. He walked, talked, and ate with those who were considered untouchable. He was kind and gentle, like a shepherd tending to his sheep, like a mother who welcomes and feeds her child in the wee hours of the night. He was, in every way, different from other leaders of that time and different than what they expected. I imagine that kind of person would be seared into my memory. I would want to write a story about him. I would want others to know of his ways.

Can we trust the story, like those before us did? Like we trust Plato or Socrates? Maybe today you can look at the story of Jesus again and bring your questions and doubts to him. Maybe you will find a man that is unlike any other religious teacher you've met—kind, gentle, lowly. Maybe you'll find a listening ear or a comforting place to rest. I believe he lives to be these things to you.