Some of our best articles and finds over the years on these, the most sacred of days:

Maundy Thursday

Spiritual Podiatry, by David Zahl

You could say that unlike most body parts, feet tend to be a source of commiseration rather than comparison, a body part that places us all on similar, er, footing. It’s no coincidence that Jerry Seinfeld once quipped about one of Elaine’s boyfriends, “He’s not a doctor, he’s a podiatrist.”

Destined to Fail: Sin and Providence on Maundy Thursday, by Todd Brewer

The events of Maundy Thursday were tragic. And yet even the disciples’ colossal blunder is enveloped in the purposes of Jesus. In this brief narrative we are offered a small window into the hidden things we blindly grasp at. In the Garden of Gethsemane, human sin and divine action are strangely intertwined. Apostasy and divine providence are mysteriously coextensive with one another. Seemingly destined to fail, their sin was not an obstacle to God, but the very means by which he redeemed.

The Transfiguration in the Garden of Gethsemane, by Jason Micheli

In the garden, Jesus is confronted by two opposing wills that act in a hideous union. In the garden, the line between good and evil inseparably blurs beyond recognition. Which way is the path of the righteous and which is the path that leads to Sheol? Before him lay nothing but the way of Godforsakeness.

See also, “The Most Ernest Prayer of Christ,” “About That Random Naked Guy in Mark’s Gospel,” and “The Empty Halo of Judas Iscariot.”

Good Friday

Francis Spufford’s Good Friday: Communication, Emotion, and Atonement

He is all open door: to sorrow, suffering, guilt, despair, horror, everything that cannot be escaped, and he does not even try to escape it; he turns to meet it and claims it all as his own. This is mine now, he is saying; and he embraces it with all that is left in him, each dark act, each dripping memory, as if it were something precious, as if it were itself the loved child tottering homeward on the road.

“It Is Fulfilled” A Deep Dive Into Jesus’ Final Word on the Cross, by Todd Brewer

As evocative as it might be, Jesus didn’t say “paid in full” with his dying breath … Rather than “paid in full,” “tetelestai” is better translated as “(the scripture) is fulfilled.” As the hourglass of Jesus’ life slowly drains towards expiration, a quick succession of events occurs that immediately recall the Old Testament.

The Hero Dies in This One, by Sam Bush

As Jesus breathes his last, even we, the reader, have been betrayed all over again. We may know the story by heart, but somehow it’s still impossible to believe. How could the savior of the world fail to even save himself?

Sharks in the Water: In the Event of a Failure (on Good Friday), by CJ Green

There’s talk of destiny-defining ‘exits.’ Of Jesus and his disciples: ‘The most successful startup in history!’ Of the parable of the talents, in which two servants are lauded by their master for turning a profit with money he staked them: ‘The first recorded instance of venture capital and investment banking in history!’

The Way to God Is the Way Into Darkness, a sermon from theologian Rudolf Bultmann

The way to God leads not to hell but through hell, or, in Christian terms through the cross. It leads us not to hopelessness but to a hope which transcends all human hope … This hell we must traverse; before the life of the resurrection stands the cross. “It is the essence of God” says Luther, “first to destroy what is in us before He bestows on us His gifts.”

W. H. Auden Was There on Good Friday

In my most optimistic mood I see myself as a Hellenized Jew from Alexandria visiting an intellectual friend. We are walking along, engaged in philosophical argument. Our path takes us past the base of Golgotha …

For more, check out: Emily Dickinson’s Good Friday Poem, and T.S. Eliot’s East Coker musings on the Wounded Surgeon.

Easter Sunday

The Light Has Come to Stay, by Sarah Condon

Resurrection rips through all of the intellectual questions that I want to throw at it: Do I have to be forgiven? Can’t I just forgive myself? Why do I have to forgive others? All of those questions are just my heart’s feeble barrier to keep me feeling like I have some say in the matter. Jesus rising from the dead burns that old fence right down.

Easter Is God’s Great Yes to Earth, by Chad Bird

Easter is the day when God kneels down, kisses the earth, and says, “This is my soil. This is my creation. Not only is it still good, but I will make it even better.”

The Deconstruction of Easter, a sermon by Jacob Smith

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