Details are only optional in a relationship that is casual. There is to be nothing casual whatsoever about our devotion to Jesus. Love demands everything and our desire for Jesus should compel us to seek entrance into every detail of His life – no matter how small it might seem at first. Years ago I had a startling thought when studying the crucifixion. When I see Jesus face to face at last, how dreadful would it be to look into those eyes of fire and realize that there were story lines I knew more clearly than the tale of His death? How could I possibly explain to Him why I never took the time to discover every possible detail of when God died the death of a man for the sake of love?
We stand on the eve of the day when the church throughout the world remembers this holy death that would end with a door being flung open into the newness of life. In just a few hours we will commemorate that awful moment when the sinless hands of the Man who is our Maker were chained in metal mined from the earth He fashioned. The agony in the garden, drops of blood, slumbering disciples, a sinister kiss, and then Jesus stands arrested by the guilty ones He came to pardon.
You may have thought nothing of Holy Week up until this afternoon. I know I certainly have not thought nearly as much of it as I wish. Yet there is still time to turn your attention to the details of the almost unthinkable events that unfolded in Jerusalem during a Passover many centuries ago. You don’t need the right Lenten devotional book. I love good resources, but all you need is time, desire, and the inspired scriptures that tell us of our beloved Friend. Our love is weak, but you can resolve to know His story better than any other. Tonight, you can make a deep determination in your soul that when you stand before Him you will know the details.
