Author: John Stonestreet
One of the most helpful descriptions of the Bible can be found in the prologue of Sally Lloyd-Jones’ Jesus Storybook Bible. It explains that although the Bible contains laws for moral living, it is not mainly a book of rules. And although it tells of great men and women of God, it is not a book of heroes, either. Rather, it’s a story about one Hero, a hero whose name is whispered in every Biblical story.
Throughout the events of Holy Week, the hero’s name is shouted but we ought not miss the essential connections. Beginning with Palm Sunday, through Maundy Thursday (today), Good Friday, and finally, Easter Sunday, the story of Jesus is fully told as the culmination of the entire story of Scripture.
We have the benefit of seeing this, a benefit the Disciples did not have. For Christ’s first followers, His words at the Last Supper, His arrest, His trial, and crucifixion were aspects of a bewildering defeat. Only in retrospect, when Jesus opened the Scripture to them, first on the road to Emmaus and later in the upper room, did they understand. And even then, not fully.
It was after the ascension of Christ that a restored Peter stood before Jerusalem to proclaim this punch line of Holy Week: “Let all of the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.”
The rest of the New Testament is an account of what the Holy Spirit continued to reveal about Christ’s presence throughout all of Scripture. Paul, for example, recognized Jesus in the Bible’s first chapters, identifying Him as “the Last Adam.” He contrasts the two men as representative heads of the human race. Though the one failed and brought death on all His descendants, Jesus was faithful and obedient, and brought life and restoration through His death and resurrection.
The parallels between Jesus and Adam are deep. The ways in which Jesus is like, and yet better than, Adam, are numerous. The first Adam yielded to temptation in a garden. The Last Adam beat temptation in a garden. The first man, Adam, sought to become like God. The Last Adam was God who became a man. The first Adam was naked and received clothes. The Last Adam had clothes but was stripped. The first Adam tasted death from a tree. The Last Adam tasted death on a tree. The first Adam hid from the face of God, while the Last Adam begged God not to hide His face.
The first Adam blamed his bride, while the Last Adam took the blame for His bride. The first Adam earned thorns. The Last Adam wore thorns. The first Adam gained a wife when God opened man’s side, but the Last Adam gained a wife when man opened God’s side. The first Adam brought a curse. The Last Adam became a curse. While the first Adam fell by listening when the Serpent said, “take and eat,” the Last Adam told His followers, “Take and eat, this is my body.”
On Maundy Thursday we remember that meal Jesus shared with His Disciples, and His new command that we “love one another.” This meal is now given to all Christians, as is the command. Through His body and blood, the Last Adam restores to us what the Forbidden Fruit destroyed. As such, we are now invited back to the restored Garden which is in the New Heavens and Earth. There the tree of life grows around the throne of God and is free for the taking. This story is His story and is now our story. It is what this week is all about.
Tomorrow is Good Friday. While it is tempting to rush through this dark day that reminds us of our sin and rush forward to Easter, it is important to stay here a while. The only way to Sunday is through the rejection of this night and the pain and suffering of tomorrow. Every day this week, as well as the words Jesus spoke on these days before His death, are worthy of our reflection.