Every year during Holy Week the Osceola Ministerial Association offers a Good Friday service focusing on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. On Friday, April 14, we will gather again. This year we will be hosted by Lifepoint Assembly of God Church, 801 N. Fillmore St. Rev. Mike Albert, the local HCI hospice chaplain, will offer the reflection. To accommodate those working, we will begin at 12:10 pm and end about 12:50 pm.
Holy Week is the culmination of each of the four Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. It begins with Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Maundy (or Holy) Thursday is the day of Jesus’ Last Supper and his washing of the feet of the disciples. Good Friday marks his death on the cross. Easter Sunday, of course, is the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord from the tomb.
In an earlier part of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus asks the disciples who they think he is. Peter rises to the occasion and says he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Peter immediately rises to the top of the class. However, when Jesus says he has to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die and then rise, Peter protests, “God forbid, Lord. No such thing will ever happen to you.” It is beyond the disciple’s comprehension and certainly his own desire for how the future will unfold.
In a similar way, Jesus humbles himself by washing the disciples’ feet the night of the Last Supper. Peter protests again, “You will never wash my feet.” But Jesus by this action drives home what kind of Messiah he is. He is a servant king. He is one who pours out himself for the people, one who loves to the extent that he lets go of all things. He lets go of his very life. The Gospel paradox of dying in order to truly live is more than talk. It is embodied in Jesus Christ.
Among the many messages of Holy Week is that those who follow Christ must do as he did. He says simply at the washing of the disciples’ feet, “As I have done for you, you also should do.” His people are to be a servant people. His last actions with his closest followers proclaimed that for all time.