And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:3 (NIV)
My husband, Scott, has a big birthday coming up. I’m party planning, putting the pieces into place so that we can really celebrate. My birthday is the day after. When he asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said, “I want to recover from your birthday!” He laughed. Party-throwing is tiring. You come down off the sugar and regroup with clean-up and restorative naps. Then you refocus on life.
I wonder how Jesus felt the Monday after Palm Sunday. Biggest. Party. Ever. For the first time, He’s recognized for Who He is: the Son of the Most High God. All of Jerusalem turned out to sing His praises. Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna! Hosanna! Then Monday. The afterparty blues. Jesus had to recalibrate and refocus. There’s no recovery from Palm Sunday. There was just the momentous toil of wrestling with His own will so that He can accomplish the heart-wrenching work His Father had asked Him to do—to save the world. To take on every sin for all of mankind for all of eternity. How could He fathom it?
How could He breathe another breath or take another step? It must have been all too much. Costly. Cruel. Devasting. Unless…He began to plan another party. He put all the pieces into place—forgiveness, mercy, sacrifice, His life for ours—so that we could attend the never-ending party of basking in the love and hope of the One Who loves us most of all.
Faith Step: What pieces has Jesus put into place in your life so that you can bask in His love and hope?
