Alex's Passion Week Reflection on Luke 21
Focus Verse: Luke 21:25-28 (ESV)
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in
perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Reflection:
As we are rapidly approaching the season of Passion Week and Easter afterwards, I am
reminded of the fundamental meaning behind Passion Week. I only recently found out that
“Passion Week” contains two definitions: (1) it highlights Jesus’s core passion to offer Himself as the sacrificial Lamb that triumphs over sin and death once and for all, and (2) it derives from the Latin word “passio”, which means “suffering”, emphasizing on Jesus’s incoming suffering for His beloved children. His excruciating death meant the ultimate defeat of sin and death, and the glorious victory of Jesus’s redemption and love to all who believe.
This is in tandem with the ongoing events that are happening right now around the world. The painful war in Ukraine, the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the worsening global warming, the global economic crises, and so on; the list could go on forever. It is truly tempting to believe that sin and death and the ruler of evil still reign on this Earth, which may be true for a while:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” – Ephesians 2:1-2 (ESV)
However, we have also received the ultimate rebuttal, the final counterargument that sets all of evil’s plans and demise into null and void:
“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now
when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near.” – Luke 21:27-28 (ESV)
We are promised of Jesus’s second return that will deliver us to redemption once and for all.
And, just as Jesus was initially filled with humanly fear, we too may be filled with fear and anxiety. But let us also be reminded in this season of Passion that, just as Jesus was determined with divine passion and completely trusted in His Father’s plans, so too let us trust in Jesus’s passionate death on the cross and God’s continuous work of healing and redemption in this world, until the very end of the age.
Image – Sunrise:
A beautiful sunrise is always a reminder for me that hope shines the brightest after the darkest moments of the night. It symbolizes the initial dark moments of Jesus’s cross and the eventual sunrise of His redemption to all of us. This season’s Passion Week is a reminder for me to be hopeful in God’s plans, wisdom, and providence for all of us.
