A Heavy Holy Week (The Weight of the Wait)

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A Heavy Holy Week (The Weight of the Wait)

Can you feel it? The weight of sin weighing more and more heavily on this world we live in. What used to seem subtle now feels flagrant. Pure evil is on display in blatantly obvious ways. It is wearying, because it is so weighty.

But take heart, heaviness leads to holiness.

Those who cried of “Hosanna,” which literally means “save us,” on Palm Sunday, shouted “Crucify Him” days later. It’s a heaviness too hard to explain, and yet it leads to a holiness that will forever remain. He sealed the deal with a empty tomb at the end of a heavy, Holy Week.

The weight of the wait during Holy Week leads to the weight of Glory when our joy will be made complete. Jesus waited through the last week of His earthly life with the weight of His Father’s plan so heavy on His heart because it was all in His hands.

The triumphal entry on Palm Sunday led to the triumphal victory on Resurrection Sunday. Jesus’s final days. His cruel journey to the cross. His passionate plea with his final breath, “Father, forgive them.” His temporary time in the tomb giving way to eternal life because He triumphed over it all, once and for all, to deliver us all from sin, forgiving us for what had been harshly put on Him, reconciling us to the Father once again.

A story so heavy. A story so Holy. A story our finite minds will never fully comprehend, and yet our heavy hearts experience the weight of the wait again and again.

His sacrifice paid the ultimate price to lift that eternal weight off you and me. He set us free, if we just believe.

Same story. Same outcome. Same power. Same HOPE. A story that was foretold, fulfilled, retold, and revealed — giving NEW LIFE & HOPE to all who believe and are set free from sin.

Heavy and Holy. A wait in which the weight of our sin gives way to the weight of Glory.

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Revive Us Again

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Revive Us Again

{a reflection of Holy Week through the lens of the continual and consistent work of being REVIVED again and again}

My friend, Haley Barinowski, recently shared these words after reflecting on the word REVIVE as it relates to Holy Week. It pricked a place in my heart, and opened my mind to contemplate further this word, it’s meaning, and it’s transformational power in the life of all those who BELIEVE the Bible’s literally account of Holy Week and have RECEIVED Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior — those who have turned from their sin and surrendered to Him.

These were Haley’s words…

I've been thinking a lot about the word revive recently. Not so much revival in the sense of big church movements (although I want to learn more about that, too), but more about what it means to be revived personally — to be brought back to life, woken up, restored. And if the Lord is making all things new, then he is continually reviving. He was, He is, He will. I was in Luke some this week reading about Jesus last week before he died, and it was there, too, even on His way to death, He was bringing things to life…

Palm Sunday: He revived service by hand picking a brand new colt — choosing the unlikely and unfamiliar.

Monday: He revived worship by cleansing the temple — making a way for the poor and helpless.

Tuesday: He revived giving by honoring a woman's two coins — honoring a sacrifice from scarcity, not surplus.

Thursday: He revived religious ceremony by fulfilling the Passover dinner — bringing substance to symbols.

Friday: He revived our access to God by tearing the temple veil — bringing us in with boldness, not fear.

Saturday: He revived our waiting — bringing meaning to our longing.

Resurrection Sunday: He revived my desperate soul — putting death in its place and bringing me to life in a way I could never find without him.

And in that case, I have to believe He will do it again tomorrow. Every spring, every morning, every moment.

"Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name." Psalm 80:18

After reading Haley’s words, I opened the Word and did a quick word study on the word, REVIVE…

There was SO MUCH in the Psalms about being revived (specifically Psalm 119). The Hebrew word for REVIVE used in the fifteen verses below is CHAYAH, and it is used 264 times in the Old Testament. It has several similar meanings when translated. These are the translations that stood out to me: to live, to sustain life, to quicken, to cause to grow, to restore, and these verses all have a common theme. That theme and the profound meaning it has in the life of a believer leapt off the page and into my heart as I read these verses. I’ve highlight the words that connected the dots. I pray that message comes alive in your heart as the Holy Spirit connects the dots personally for you, too.

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A Heavy Holy Week. The Weight of the Wait.

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A Heavy Holy Week. The Weight of the Wait.

Can you feel it? The weight of sin weighing more and more heavily on this world we live in. What used to seem subtle feels more and more palpable. Pure evil is on display in blatantly obvious ways. It can be discouraging and disheartening, and it can feel so incredibly weighty.


But take heart, heaviness leads to holiness. The weight of the wait during Holy Week leads to the weight of Glory when our joy will be made complete. Jesus waited through the last week of His earthly life with the weight of His Father’s plan so heavy on His heart because it was all in His hands.


We reflect on this story year after year — Jesus’s final days. His cruel journey to the cross. His passionate plea with his final breath, “Father, forgive them.” His temporary time in the tomb before His resurrection and triumph over it all, once and for all, to deliver us all from sin, forgiving us for what had been harshly put on Him, reconciling us to the Father once again.


A story so heavy. A story so Holy. A story our finite minds will never fully comprehend, and yet our heavy hearts experience again and again. It’s a weighty wait, but we can be certain of our fate, if we embrace the price He paid to lift that weight off you and me. He set us free if we believe.


Same story. Same outcome. Same power. Same HOPE. A story that was foretold, fulfilled, retold, and revealed — giving NEW LIFE & HOPE to all who believe and are set free sin — a disease far more dangerous and deadly than any other disease we’ll ever face.


Heavy and Holy. A wait in which we feel the weight of our sin give way to the weight of Glory.

Read More