Do Something Different This Week

Something different happened this week 2,000 years ago.  Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, a symbol of peace, triggering seven days that would change everything. The week was highlighted by three events:  a meal, a death, and an empty tomb.

At the meal Jesus gave us the elements of the Eucharist and washed His disciples feet. Remembrance and servanthood were the themes.  We are Called to never forget and to serve.  The noise of life has a way of robbing us of memories. We forget grateful moments, old friendships, impactful teachers from years ago, happy times, and, most importantly, Jesus' sacrifice.  Do something different this week.  Take some time to remember eternal influences on your life that are worth remembering.  Too often we spend our time dwelling on memories that are destructive rather than those that bring life.

Do something different this week.  Be a servant not a recipient.  Give don't receive. Grab a towel and wash feet.  There is something that comes alive in us when we get our hands messy with the needs of this world.  Jesus has commissioned us to be His ambassadors, making His appeal through us, not to keep us stuck on safe, comfortable pews but to serve.  He is the God on the move, and so it should be with us. Do something different this week.

In His dying breath, Jesus modeled His greatest expression of peace.  He pleaded forgiveness for the very ones killing and mocking Him.  It's one thing to forgive those close to you.  It's another level of love to forgive those trying to destroy you.  In Jesus' moment of anguish, nails, and blood, as He took on the sins of the world, He spoke peace and love.  Do something different this week.  In your own place of pain, extend peace and love to those near, even the tough ones that don't deserve it. Forgiving those that have hurt you will bring a freedom and joy that is immeasurable. It will be your finest hour.  Do something different this week.

And finally, God gave us the gift of the empty tomb.  Jesus conquered death allowing us to proclaim with Scripture, "Where, O Death, is your sting?"  Life, free from the fear of death, is a new kind of living that words fail to adequately describe. It allows us to walk with confidence during the "light and momentary troubles of this world."  The gift of the empty tomb empowers us to not only do something different this week but to begin seeing life through the lens of eternity.  One small, different choice this week can launch you into the plans created for you before the creation of the world.

So why not do something different this week?

Ex nihilo (out of nothing),


R.J. Rhoden