What Shall I Do With Jesus?

Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"  They all said to him, "Let him be crucified!"
Matthew 27: 22 NKJV

I had forgotten, in the midst of all which has been happening lately, that this week is highly regarded among the Christian faith.  Traditionaly, it is said that it is during this time that we Christians recall those events which led up to the crucifixion and ended with the resurrection of Christ Jesus.  The week begins with Palm Sunday, in which we remember Jesus's entry into Jerusalem and ends with Good Friday where we recall His suffering and death upon the cross.  This has been a long held tradition among Christians for hundreds of years.  This week, however, I found myself wondering, what have we done with Jesus?  For if we have relegated Jesus to someone who is to be celebrated merely once a year then we're missing the point of His death for sure.  How did Jesus Himself feel about traditions?  Well, he critisized the Pharisees for disregarding the word of God as they hung onto their own traditions {Mark 7:13-14}.  We do well to remember the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, but there is so much more to Him we fail to see.  Growing up, I saw the holy week as a time when Jesus went away.  The prevailing church teaching to this day is that Jesus died upon the cross for our sins, rose again three days later then ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, end of story.  The trouble with this line of thinking is, it's not the end of the line for Jesus.  Far from it.  One of my favorite verses of scripture comes from the book of Mark.  As the women gathered at the tomb of Jesus the morning of His resurection, they were shocked to find a empty grave.  They were also amazed at the two men in shining garments who asked them all any of us need to know about Jesus, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"  So, what have you done with Jesus?  Have you relegated Him to a simple celebration once a year?  Or, do you heed the angels words of that morning, "He is risen!"  The apostle Paul, himself a doubter of Jesus for many years raised in the Jewish faith before his eyes were opened, tells us the truth of Christ.  He has not gone away, as so many believe, but lives in us {Galatians 2:20}.  How great it would be if we incorporated the truth of Christ Jesus in us into holy week each year.  Yet, some are hard pressed to give up their traditions.  I cannot imagine living a life where Jesus comes around only once a year.  We do well to remember Him, and to celebrate His life in us.

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?  "He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."  And they remembered His words.
Luke 24: 5 - 8 NKJV

What have I done with Jesus?  I have come to that realization that His death upon the cross was not a end to His story, but a begining.  I see the cross not as a ending, but as the new beginning of His life in us.  It is Jesus who has proclaimed that He will never leave us {Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:39}.  Jesus has not gone away, but come closer to us than we ever thought possible.  As Paul observed, it is Jesus who I live as today.  We can walk in the assurance that it is Jesus who shares our life and our experiences.  This, of course, may be a radical change in the way we see our lives in God and in Christ.  We're not in a waiting line as God decides whether He is going to help us or not.  We're no longer bound to our sins, which some believe would cause God to somehow "punish" us.  Paul assures us, in Romans, of our now being "Dead to sin" {Romans 6:11}.  What remains is our life in Him.  Of course, this goes against the teaching of the institutional church, but is by no means a false belief.  It was also during holy week some years back that I began my own journey of knowing Christ Jesus in me.  As I sat in church one Easter morning, I listened to the traditional story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  After his sermon of how Jesus had given Himself for the forgiveness of our sins, he welcomed the congregation to come forward to "confess" any sins which we might be carrying with us.  I thought that message strange.  Needless to say, I did not return to that church.  Instead, I began my own search of who Jesus is.  That is what I've done with Jesus.

~Scott~