Ash Wednesday: death is a part of life

In our previous blog, we introduced the Big Idea for the Easter season, and talked a bit about lament and why it’s important. With Ash Wednesday, we’ll have the opportunity to lament the sting of death. We’ll do so by asking this question together, and praying our lament to God together as we engage with:

How has death impacted our deepest longings?

The Hebrew people in the time of the Bible knew all about death, because they had been conquered and reconquered by several larger civilizations. At the time when Jesus shows up, the Romans were running the show, and they had the power of life and death over everyone. This lack of justice certainly impacted one of their deepest longings, which was to see the Roman occupation end and have their land restored to their own control.

The story from Scripture that we’ll read together is the story of Palm Sunday; here it is in the Message translation:

John 12:9-19
The Jesus Jewish Fan Club learned that Jesus was there in Bethany, and they came not only to see Jesus, but also in order to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. But the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus, because many people went away from the Jews and were believing in Jesus. The next day, the Jesus Fan Club joined the large mob who came for the Passover Feast because they heard Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
They took the fronds of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and they chanted:
“Save us now! It’s our hero, the one who comes in God’s name, the King of Israel!”
Now Jesus found a donkey and sat on him, just as it was written:
Fear not, Daughter of Zion, Look! Your King comes, seated on the foal of a donkey.
The disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified they remembered everything that was written about him, and that these things had happened. Witnessing this was the Fan Club that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. The Fan Club that went to meet him got HUGE, because they heard that Jesus did this crazy thing that fulfilled prophecy. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: “It’s out of control! The world’s in a stampede after him!”

Back in those days, when a King rode back in town after defeating their enemies, they would greet their victorious warrior King by waving palm branches in the air. We don’t have a similar sort of cultural event in order to make a good comparison, an Inauguration Day parade is probably as close as we get. So, when King Herod and all the Roman soldier saw Jesus ride into town with palm branches, they knew the people were expecting Jesus to set himself up as the new King. The people were celebrating their new King!

While the Bible doesn’t mention how Herod and the soldiers felt, it’s very difficult for me to imagine they would be intimidated by an unarmed guy on a donkey.

So why did the Hebrew people have all this confidence that their deep longing to be free of the Roman occupation of Jerusalem was about to end, and Jesus was going to be their new king?

Because he just raised Lazarus from the dead. If Jesus can bring Lazarus out of the grave alive, then Jesus can do anything! And since Jesus was coming to Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, then certainly Jesus is coming to give the people what they want more than anything else: freedom from the Romans.

Except that’s not what happens. Instead of conquering the Romans, Jesus gets arrested by the Romans, and their deepest longings go unfulfilled.

They were so focused on what they wanted Jesus to do, they were blind to what Jesus was actually doing.

Jesus was revealing his kingdom, but it wasn't (and isn’t) a kingdom where he shows up and conquers the bad guys and fulfills our deepest longings, it’s a kingdom where he empties himself of his power, joins us in our powerlessness, and brings about new life in the broken places.

One of my best friends growing up was my cousin Keith, and he was killed by a drunk driver when we were in college. I never had the chance to meet my wife’s mother, because she died before Denise and I met. My mother’s parents were some of the kindest people I’ve ever known, and even though they died at a ripe old age, I still miss not having my grandparents around. Whether by tragedy or by nature….

death leaves a void.

And, about that whole ‘nature’ bit: we’re all going to die. Every single one of us. I don’t want to watch the death of all my family and friends, yet the only way to avoid that is for me to go first, and I’m not signing up for that, either.

Death constrains, limits, and warps whatever longings I might have for life.

And so, every year at Ash Wednesday, we pause as a church and remember that death is a part of life. We know Easter is coming, so we know death doesn’t have the last word, but we still feel the sting of death together as a church as we start the Easter season together. And, this particular Ash Wednesday, we’ll write and pray a lament for death, and I’m curious to see how Jesus reveals his kingdom to us through this lament together.