By His bruises we are healed

On Sunday, the church celebrated. We celebrated five years of worship. We celebrated Palm Sunday, the day Christ entered Jerusalem as the crowds waved palm branches, cheered and waved him in as their future king.

On this day, They expected Jesus to lead a revolution that will overthrow the Roman government and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. But only one week later, Christ would be nailed to a cross, executed for his claims to be the son of God. How could a man go from exalted to reviled in such a short time?

For one, the religious leaders of the time were jealous of the attention Jesus received. They plotted to have him tried as a traitor and heretic. But, even though the religious leaders thought they were getting rid of a "problem," Christ's death was part of God's great plan to save all of mankind.

The Bible tells us the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). To atone for sin, the ancient Israelites would sacrifice (give up) the things most valuable to them: their prized animals and grains from the field. As you've probably noticed, we don't sacrifice animals at church anymore! Christ's death served as the final sacrifice for all of our sins for all time.

There are some special days associated with Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter. Thursday is Maundy Thursday, where Christ has his final dinner with his best friends. Here he introduced the first communion, a ritual where we drink wine (ok ... grape juice) and eat bread to remember the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood. Friday is Good Friday. The day Christ was crucified. If you've seen The Passion of the Christ, you have an idea of the humiliation and pain he went through. This was no humane, quick execution. This was the Romans way of torturing and humiliating a prisoner.

Thankfully, the death of Christ is not the end of the story. The best part comes on Sunday ...