Skipping the Nails

Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" He answered, "How can I without some help?" and invited Philip into the chariot with him. (Acts 8:30, 31 MSG)

In worship yesterday we saw some short movie clips... The first was about Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Cecelia sat beside me and watched and commented that they were waving palm branches just like we had earlier that morning. I was pleased that she had noticed and made a mental note to talk about it with her after church.

But then the next scene was after the crowd had changed from "hosannas" to "crucify him!" Jesus was beaten and bleeding. Now Cecelia had some REAL questions and I found that I wasn't as excited about answering them. "What happened to Jesus?" "Why is he bleeding?" "Why are they mad at him?" and she wanted to know...now!

When someone actually asks us about our faith, we are excited to share. We share about how much God loves us. We share about the comfort our faith brings us. We share all the great things about Christian community, answered prayer, the peace that passes understanding, the joy of forgiving and being forgiven and all that other stuff that is so attractive about our faith.

But we're not so good at the harder questions... Like why children die and earnest prayers often seem to go unanswered. We don't want to talk about the nails driven into Jesus hands... We only want to talk about the joy of the resurrection. How can we expect people to respond to our invitation if we talk about the suffering?

If we don't talk about the suffering, we cheapen the whole foundation of our faith, which is about overcoming... Overcoming pain and suffering and even death. We have joy and peace even in the midst of suffering because we know suffering does not have the last word.

As difficult as it was, I tried to answer Cecelia's questions in words that a three-year-old could understand. And we're not done. I know my answers left her a little confused, and she probably has more questions than she started out with. But, we've begun to talk about the harder stuff and we will continue the conversation throughout her faith development. How can she know if someone does not help her understand?

Holy Week is not fun. But it is important. We must talk about the nails in order to fully embrace the resurrection.

Lord Jesus,
Thank you for not "skipping the nails" as we are so apt to do. Without the suffering, there is no joy. Amen.

Joys: Cecelia getting to have a video chat with her Opah; thought a-provoking questions from a three-year-old; Holy Week