Tuesday is Mardi Gras so it’s your last chance to eat donuts without spiritual guilt. Um, sorta.
Either way, it means Lent is about to start. You might remember my Lent devotions from last year. They were fun to write, but honestly it was just too much work! So this year I’m shortening the series.
We will start March 20 and continue until Easter Sunday, April 9. Which seems like ages from now, doesn’t it? But when you write on a deadline it feels eerily close!
Like my other devotions, these Easter devotions will take us on a road trip. From Galilee to Jerusalem, as if we were part of a motley crowd of friends, fans, and oddball groupies following Jesus. Granted, Jesus didn’t drive everyone in the family minivan. We’re walking on this road trip.
We head toward Jerusalem for Passover and, ultimately, to witness a death and resurrection. A lot happens along the way. Sometimes we get so caught up in the immensity of those events that we overlook the human experience, so my hope is to retell these stories from an authentic, sometimes gritty perspective.
Now obviously, the details in the Bible stories are limited. Just a few verses dedicated to a miracle? Come on, John Grisham could’ve written a whole book about it and signed a movie deal.
But Jesus and his disciples were real people living real lives, just like everyone who met them. There had to be thousands of everyday moments that didn’t make it past the Gospel editors because they were considered boring or irrelevant. “Luke, look, your audience doesn’t want to hear about Jesus taking a wrong turn on the road to Jerusalem. Cut it.”
Those untold stories, real or imagined, fascinate me. There is far more truth that goes untold.
So at times I’m going to explore what might have happened along the road trip to Jerusalem, and you can judge whether it makes any sense or not. And even if you disagree with me—if you think the story probably happened differently—that’s okay. I don’t pretend to be a theologian, or pastor, or historian. Just a guy who worked in a junkyard and learned a little wisdom along the way (I hope).
Okay, I’m off to write a bit!