Holy Week: Remembering Jesus By Forgetting About Him
Field Notes From a Religion-Less Christian
April 5, 2023
Wednesday of Holy Week
Holy Week: Remembering Jesus by Forgetting About Him
Holy Week.
There is nothing or no one holy but Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ is holy because Jesus of Nazareth was wholly other, meaning he completely (whole, 100%, wholly) lived for and toward the safety and security, call it Peace, of others, friends and enemies alike. Take just a minute to consider that with his enemies rather than to lead a violent insurrection against them he called them to the way of God without pulling any verbal punches. With his friends, instead of Jesus fleeing his arrest, wherein his friends/followers would have been rounded up along with him within 24 hours by Roman Legions and slaughtered or he, Jesus, resisting his arrest, wherein he and his friends would have been summarily sworded, instead of this fleeing or fighting he saved his friends lives by giving up his own life.
Plainly said, Jesus is holy because he is wholly (for the) other and that, wholly, means not charity or benevolence or good, but rather unconditional and unmerited self-giving love at all costs, including demise.
This, we see, is what we mean by the love of God. Not a benefit given where the benefactor remains intact, but rather the position taken is position taken: status and power (position) as relinquished (self-removal, self-taken, taken) from the start of the relationship (think biblical creation, not covenant). God is not about setting standards and watching closely to see if we abide. God is about setting the Table and longing for us all to sit down and enjoy the feast.
Christians, then, say an astonishing thing. We say this Jesus is God. As I have tried to briefly describe here, one can point to how this Jesus actually was this unconditional love. How he was, actually, God. How he is today, actually God, is of course the bald declaration that his death, this love, is alive!
Holy Week.
At the end of this week is Easter. There are many who will have a celebration of candies and bunnies and feasts and gatherings of friends and families without any recognition and appreciation of Jesus of Nazareth. That does not bother Christians. In fact, it is the point of it all: to celebrate life without reference to religion. Christians are in the position to simply say it is Jesus of Nazareth who provides all this freedom from religion (religion meaning a life hog-tied to transactions with the Divine). And wow, do we ever say it and sing it, and especially this week. This Holy Week.
