HOLY WEEK---No Time for Wusses

"HOLY WEEK ---No Time for Wusses"

To All the KING's Men,

It might very well be urban legend, but there is evidence that my Texas Lutheran College, now University, fraternity, Omega Tau, coined the phrase, "WUS." I'm sure you've heard it. It is NO compliment! Call someone a "WUS" out of the blue and you very well get a sucker punch to the jaw...unless they really are one! A real WUS that is...

To refer to someone as a 'WUS' is to suggest that they:

a) "can't hack it" or worse yet---"won't hack it" ---whatever the task may be;
b) demonstrate behaviors others might refer to as "sissie" or "chicken"; OR
c) come from questionable background & exhibit character unbecoming of a human being

After all, one's first exposure to the fraternity's "WUS" savvy language is normally discovered in the form of a question. And that question was normally asked by an Omega Tau pledge (me and 100's of others over 50 years) upon learning that the letters "W S" were to be painted on the left sleeve or our pledge shirts. "What does 'W S' stand for, sir?" comes the query. Then comes the ego crash as Omega Tau pledges are asked a retortive question, "Pledge, what is the lowest thing on earth?" And whether they know the answer or not, the answer is promptly given----"Whale Shi%$#" which is then mentally and emotionally compounding as the fraternity pledge learns that his palce in life is LOWER than that! Worse than WS...wow!

But, whether the Omega Tau fraternity actually coined the term WUS, I cannot confirm 100%. However, what I can confirm is that whether you were ever involved in that fraternity or not, Holy Week is no place for Wusses...no place for chickens, no place for sissies and those of questionable character for Holy Week is time and place where the power of God was both placed under attack and unleashed into the world from Introduction to Epilogue. It's God's story and work as seen from the cross and God's redemptive work and glimpse into the future from inside the bowels of an empty hewn stone tomb...a story which requires courage and certain tenacity to enter into.

You see it's one thing to ride into Jerusalem and be hailed as a king! That had happened many times before...but never did the King ride in on a donkey. Jesus changed the story. It's one thing to go and celebrate the Passover meal with your family and closest friends; but it's another thing to change the flow of the dialogue and place a whole new set of rules about what happens when that meal is shared again. Jesus established new trends and traditions that are held tightly to even today. Normally, a king would not go out in public to pray with the expectation that "some" would be out to get him, betray him and hand him over to death. But, Jesus faced betrayal and arrest in a public place under the banner of prayer. It's one thing to be ridiculed and laid out to die for all to see...even the heroic story of William Wallace wants us to root for the good guys..but Jesus was hung out to die in between 2 common thieves. The new king of Israel...just 5 days prior is now equal to a couple of neighborhood thugs. No 11 PM news flash here.

Even his burial was strained and strange. No ritual. No preparation. Just hurriedly carried from the site of the crucifixion to a borrowed grave. You would think that the one who knew he was to go up to Jerusalem to die for God's people would have had the foresight to have a burial plot lined up. Then the disgrace of all the rumors and his own friends on the run, the Roman rulers placed armed guards at the tomb entrance to secure the body. Even Abraham Lincoln didn't get that kind of attention!

And then...what happened...the power of God at work...rolling stone, vanquished guards, empty burial cloths & an angel with a simple message.."He's not here. He is risen, just like he said."

No, this story is not for wusses. It is a whirlwind of terror and destruction followed by a peace that passes all human understanding. Have you ever considered what happened to Jesus on the cross? How many times have you heard other men...men of all ages say..."Church? Church? Naw, I don't want to hang around with all those goodie-goodies and sissies!" OR that wonderful moniker... "Church is for women and kids!" Do you think they have any idea of what Jesus endured on his way to the cross...the mockery, the spitting, the ridicule, the lashing of a whip to the back and having it cleansed with a lotion of lemon and salt? Have the "tough guys" we know ever heard that part of the story.... to say nothing of his being nailed at the feet and wrists, with a crown of thorns shoved into his scalp and forehead, having his side pierced and taking part in a slow death of self-asphyxiation? Very few cultures have ever devised such a cruel way of dying...most of us will die with much more dignity and far less pain. So much for tough guys...for when most men hear the real details of Jesus' final hours...they go running to the TV to watch another episode of "HOUSE", NCIS or take in an ESPN Classic show that they already know the outcome... No, my good friends...Holy Week and all that it brings is not for wusses...

But, Holy Week IS for all of us...in whatever place and posture of life we find ourselves. Luther discovered that great gift when he heard so loudly the words of Jesus at the Last Supper..."given and shed ..."FOR YOU..." which he, in turn, translated as "pro me,"...."FOR ME!" No matter where or how we find ourselves, the drama of Holy Week was all orchestrated by God for the benefit of God's people...the meek and mild Jesus we hail all to often was instead a man of great grit, a man's man who could take it...take so much that Paul reports he took on the sins of all the world...for all times and all places... I know no man who could do that.

So, here's the new line for Holy Week...from one man to another... "Life's hard. Jesus showed us that. I'll walk with you. Let's walk together alongside Jesus entry into Jerusalem. Let's gather with his disciples at his supper. Let's stand with John and the woman and the soldier at the foot of the cross. Let's run to tomb and hear the angel's message..."he's not here. He has gone ahead of you just like he said."

Fact is, most of my life I've been a WUS, but it could have been even worse had I not had others to walk with me and remind of the power of God at work and how Jesus' living and dying and rising places a model of Godly living before keep me focused on the now and the future...

Holy Week is not for WUSSES...but this WUS will be there and I invite y'all to come too and grab hold of the power of God that breaks the bonds of sin and death and leads us into the coming kingdom of God...

Holy Week & Easter blessings to all the KING's men...I'm always interested in what you think...

One man at a time; no man left behind,

Brian