Is it just me or do you have trouble keeping the main things the main things? With all the responsibilities that we have to carry and all the distractions that surround us, we don’t always know what to say “yes” or “no” to. Do we even have a clear sense of what the “main things” are in our faith and life?

As we journey through this Holy Week, our Lord shows us again what the “main things” truly are! A member of St. Matthew recently shared a poem/prayer with me which is so appropriate as we consider the significance of this week and especially as we prepare our hearts for the services this Maundy Thursday and Good Friday:

As from daily toils we gather in the evening’s sweet repose,

List’ning to the Passion story, Lord, Thy saving grace disclose.

Hush the world’s loud din within us, draw, oh draw, our hearts to Thee.

Grant repentance, faith, and help us Thy redeeming love to see!

This week, if we’re paying attention, the Lord will again disclose the good news of His saving grace to us, and we’ll see and hear and even taste our Redeemer’s great love.

On Thursday, April 2nd, we observe “Maundy” or “Holy Thursday.” (I’ll share more about those names for the day in my sermon.) This was Jesus’ last night before His suffering on the cross. He shared one more Passover with His friends. He left us with one act of love that exemplified His life as our Servant-Savior (see John chapter 13). He also instituted one meal for His church to eat and to drink in remembrance of Him. 

Our 6:30pm service this Maundy Thursday will especially focus on the meaning of the Supper Jesus instituted on the night when He was betrayed. The Lord’s Supper deserves our attention and our faithful preparation. After all, this meal has been a “main thing” for Christians since the earliest days of the church.

We gather again at 6:30pm on Good Friday, April 3rd. Good Friday is a day of remembrance and thanksgiving to our Lord for His costly sacrifice upon the cross. Jesus’ death for us is the heart of our faith and our proclamation of the Gospel. As St. Paul said so straightforwardly, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23-24). The church has no other message than “Christ crucified” because there is no other way of salvation!

Good Friday brings us back to the “main thing” of Christ’s cross. His suffering for us on the cross reveals the true nature of our guilt, showing us what we deserve as sinners before God. Yet at the same time, Good Friday also reveals just how gracious our God is – that He would give His only Son to save a wretch like me!

Christ’s cross is such good news for us, though, not just because He died but also because He is risen! This Easter Sunday, April 5th (and throughout the Easter season) we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Join us either at 8:00 or 10:30am as we hear the angel’s announcement at Christ’s empty tomb, “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:6).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has truly been the “main thing” in our Christian faith ever since the first Easter morning! Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates that His sacrifice was sufficient to take away our sins. His resurrection also opens the way to our new life and our pending resurrection on the day of Christ’s return.

Romans 6:4 connects these “main things” of Christ’s death and resurrection to your Baptism: “We were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Everything Christ accomplished by His sacrificial death on Good Friday and His victorious resurrection on Easter Sunday was for your benefit, and He’s poured out all those benefits for you in Holy Baptism. This means that your sinful nature has died with Christ. Your sins were buried with Him in His tomb. And you have been raised unto this new life of faith already now – just as you will be raised and restored to enjoy everlasting life in His presence.

As Christ’s people, we observe Holy Week that the Lord might help us to keep the main things the main things, remembering that Christ’s death and resurrection are the basis of our faith, the reason for our hope, and the motivation for our Christian love and service. With those main things in mind, may God grant you a blessed Holy Week!

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke