Stewardship of God’s Gift of End of Life: Death and Burial: Witness to the Resurrection

Passage: John 19:38-42

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week, clearly the most important week in human history.

Tonight we will have a special service of nine lessons and hymns that will walk us through these five days of holy week from the Last Supper to the burial of Jesus.  I urge you and your families to come, to set apart an hour to reflect on the profound events that led up to our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins.  Make this evening a time to remember the greatest act done by the greatest being for the least worthy and least deserving beings.

I have chosen to break from the ordinary Palm Sunday text and focus on the end of Holy Week, and I have a specific purpose for doing so that I will address in a moment.

Jesus was born to die.  Jesus came to earth to take on human flesh to be the ransom for our sins, so He could bear the eternal wrath of the Father for the sins of the world.