The Plan of Easter Week

It puts my planner to shame.

First thing Monday morning, I take out my planner and map out my week. I write out my to-do lists, the events on my calendar, the people I need to call back, reach out to, or wish happy birthday. I try my best to prepare myself for the next seven days, so I can go into them with a clear head, feeling productive, excited, and, ideally, at ease.

In going through my routine this week, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus and what it might have been like to start Easter week. He knew everything that was going to happen. There were no surprises, wild cards, or blind spots. He knew every good and dark detail and yet...he went through with it.

What kinds of measures would we take not to walk into a week like that? A week when we knew one of our dearest friends was going to betray us? When we knew we were going to suffer greatly? When we knew, without a doubt, we were going to die?

It’s likely our weeks don’t hold that much weight, that much biblical history, that much sacrifice or awareness of what's to come. And it’s not until I really looked at this week as a whole that I realized the sacredness of each day, or appreciated each brave step Jesus took, knowing exactly where it was leading him, or fully acknowledged how many pieces of prophecy were coming together for the greatest event in human history.

Today is Thursday, the day of the last supper. The night Jesus would be taken captive, Peter would deny knowing him, and Judas would realize the consequences of his greed. It is the day before Good Friday which, when I was little, I always wondered how and why we could call it “good” when something so terrible happened.

But in time I’ve learned—and began to fully understand—that it is a good Friday because it is the day when the ultimate good deed was committed for humanity. When Jesus died for the sins of the world. When he checked off every item of his earthly to-do list, knowing full well that it was what God had planned from the start.

So on this Thursday, I'm thinking about that Thursday, the one 2000-ish years ago when Jesus sat at a table with his friends, sharing a meal, knowing what the next hours and days would bring. I'm here on this Thursday because of what he prepared for on that Thursday. And what he did on that Friday and that Sunday, which we now call Easter.

The Last Supper might be the original source of Thursday Faith. A day when none of the disciples knew full well what Jesus was talking about (this bread is my body, this wine my blood, etc.) but were encouraged to trust that he was doing what he came to do. When even Jesus himself asked God for confirmation that this (meaning the crucifixion) was the only way, trusting that if it was, he would do it.

Faith that was generations in the making was put to the test that Thursday, and it strengthens my own faith nearly two millennia later.

So when I sit down to write out my week in my planner, I too can trust that God is leading my steps where I need to go. He is the one with the ultimate pen, writing out plans that go deeper than I could ever imagine. I am part of his story, and so are you.