Will Vaus

I believe that part of the message of Holy Week is, as Corrie ten Boom put it, “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.” Jesus identifies with all our struggles because he has been there before us and triumphed through them and over them. I believe we can discover Jesus in our struggles right now, whatever they may be, and he can help us through them. “But what does this have to do with Palm Sunday?” you may ask. Wasn’t Palm Sunday a day of triumph for Jesus? Yes, to all outward appearances Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps multitudes were singing his praises. But as Luke records for us, Jesus wept amidst the shouting. He wept because he knew judgment was coming on the city. He wept because his people did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them. (See Luke 19:41-44.) So, Jesus identifies with our struggles… in relationships, with betrayal, when facing death, and even in success. What struggles are there in success? To discover the answer let’s rea...

I invite you to imagine this scene. Jesus and his disciples are standing atop the Mount of Olives. Spread out before them, on the other side of the Kidron Valley, is the Temple and the city of Jerusalem beyond. As Jesus, riding on a donkey, along with his disciples walking beside him, begin to descend the Mount of Olives, various pilgrims who have gathered for Passover, greet him by spreading their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. This is how the crowds greeted another conquering hero less than two-hundred-years before Jesus. Next, the crowd begins to recite the words of Psalm 118 (which we read this morning) just as they always do, while flowing in pilgrimage up to the Temple to celebrate Passover.   Alright, you may open your eyes. But I want you to keep that picture in your mind as we consider what this psalm that was chanted on that first Palm Sunday has to teach us today.   I believe this psalm teaches us at least t...

“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.” Luke 23:46   In a sense, Jesus died just like everyone else has died or will die. A moment came when he breathed his last breath on earth. Then his friends took his body and buried him in a tomb. But there are, of course, some ways that Jesus’ death was distinctive…   First, Jesus spent the final moments of his earthly life praying.  Luke is the only Gospel that records this saying, perhaps because Luke had a special interest in prayer.   Now, I am not saying that Jesus is the only person who ever came to the end of his earthly life in prayer. In fact, in his prayer, Jesus is quoting Psalm 31:5.  The quotation was used as part of a Jewish evening prayer; the use of this prayer fits the evening of life just as it fits the evening before sleep. The time of Jesus’ death may have actually been the time of evening prayer, the ninth hour...

Listen for God's word to you from John 13:18-30... “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he ...

I was born not far from the home of Washington Irving, the author of   Rip Van Winkle.  Imagine with me for a moment that you are a modern Rip Van Winkle. You fall asleep one day while on a mountain hike and you wake up twenty years later. As you walk back into your hometown, you see twinkling lights lining the city streets, decorated evergreen trees in the windows of homes and shops, and evergreen wreaths with red bows on the doorways. If you saw all these symbols, then you would know it was around Christmastime.   Now I invite you to imagine a different scene. You are Rip Van Winkle, but this time when you wake up and return to your hometown, you see colorful eggs and bunnies in shop windows. If you saw that, you would know it was near Easter, wouldn’t you?   OK. Now indulge me a bit further and imagine yet another scene. You are still Rip Van Winkle. You wake up after your twenty-year snooze, but this time it is night. As you make your way back to town, you see ch...