Ep. 009: MAKE EASTER GREAT AGAIN!! w/ Dr. John Neufeld

Andrew Marcus:

Hey, this is Andrew Marcus from THE INDOUBT SHOW. Thank you so much for tuning in. We have an awesome show. We have Dr. John Neufeld in-house today, talking all things Passion Week, so it’s going to be great. We hope you enjoy it.

I just want to remind you that we do have a free resource available to you. It is a book called Before You Share Your Faith by Matt Smethurst. You can get it for free for the month of April. If you go to indoubt.ca, type in the promo code SYF23, and it is yours for free. We hope you enjoy that, and we hope you enjoy today’s episode. God bless.

All right. Well, we got Dr. John Neufeld with us, again. Come on. I feel like you should just be on weekly. Honestly, the last time we talked, earlier this year, that was our first episode-

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah.

Andrew Marcus:

… actually. I was honoured that you were there for the first episode. It was just such a great talk on the Great Reset. So you can watch, go back to the first episode in February. We are here. This is right after Palm Sunday. We are on Monday.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah.

Andrew Marcus:

We are now entering Holy Week. I thought it’d be great to have you on and walk us through what this week means, what this week looks like to us as Christians. Why don’t we celebrate it enough? So, we’re in Holy Week. Can we start by just even talking the significance of yesterday, Palm Sunday? I know a lot of churches don’t even really address it, or they just kind of do a regular service. Palm Sunday is very significant in the beginning of Holy Week. Can we walk through Palm Sunday?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. In fact, what we can say just even before we deal with the details of Palm Sunday, is that Palm Sunday opens us into Passion Week, which has typically been called that, the passion of our Lord, his sufferings, and so forth. Prior to that, Jesus was resolutely going to Jerusalem. There was a building crescendo of anticipation. “Is this the Messiah? Are we expecting?” Because he’s coming there to celebrate Passover. Every year the Jews would have said, “Next year, in Jerusalem,” that is, “We’ll meet at Passover, again.” Passover, the great celebration of the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. So every year, waiting for the Messiah. “Will this be the year the Messiah appears and deliver us from the slavery of Rome, and all other slaveries we have ever been under? Will he usher in the kingdom of God?” So, this crescendo of expectation, Jesus has been in Jericho. Now, he’s moving up a steep hill to get to Jerusalem, and the crowds are gathering from Galilee.

The day before Palm Sunday, he ends up in the house of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. All sorts of people are gathered there, and they’re saying, I mean, “Is this the guy?” Lazarus gives his testimony. Other people are there, and they’re listening to that. There’s a man by the name of Simon, the leper, whom Jesus must have healed from leprosy. So, there’s this rise in crescendo, and the chief priests are saying, “If we don’t kill this guy, the Romans are going to say, ‘There comes their Messiah.’ We’ve got to stop him. This is going to be a war.” There’s this huge crescendo of expectation, “What’s going to happen?” The next day, of course, is Sunday. We call that, now, Palm Sunday.

Jesus mounts a donkey. In fact, Matthew even says, “The donkey was so small that you had to keep its mother with it because it couldn’t go out without-

Andrew Marcus:

What?

Dr. John Neufeld:

… its mother.” I mean, it’s that humble of a-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… donkey.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But, he’s fulfilling the expectation in The Book of Zecharia. “See, your king comes to you, humble and mounted on a donkey.” That’s a Messianic Prophecy of what’s occurring. Jesus deliberately gets onto a donkey, and he’s making a statement.

The statement is, “Yes, indeed, I am the Messiah that you’ve long expected.” I mean, you can go all the way back from the beginning of Genesis that, “One will come, the seed of the woman, who will crush the head of the serpent.” So, this is the expectation since the fall of Adam, “When will the Messiah come and deliver us from everything that oppresses us?” And, Jesus gets on a donkey and everyone says, “That’s him.” He starts to ride, and everyone starts shouting, “Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Basically they’re saying, “Hail to the King. Here comes the King of Israel. Here comes the King of the world. Here comes the man who makes the dead rise, and heals the lepers, and the blind see, and the lame walk, and he walks on water.” My goodness, gracious. “This guy has got to be the Messiah.” Now, he mounts himself on Zechariah’s donkey, and people are laying down palm branches and everything else.

This is an anticipation. The place explodes in a rapture as Jesus goes into Jerusalem. Of course, there are those that tell the story, Andrew, that in the end of the day, Jesus had these great expectations. But look, they put him to death. Of course, we know that not only was Zechariah’s prophecy being fulfilled, Isaiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled, also, that he had come to suffer for our sins. In Christian terms, this event is the centerpiece of all of human history. There is no greater moment in the history of the universe, say it that way-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… of the universe. The universe was created so that this would stand at the center and give meaning to all that exists. It’s that profound. It’s a cool thing.

Andrew Marcus:

Man. But, we don’t see it as that in today’s culture.

Dr. John Neufeld:

The sad thing, to me, is in the North American Christian Church, Christmas is the big deal.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Now Palm Sunday, I mean, there are a lot of Christians that won’t even have in their churches a Palm Sunday celebration. So, it’s as if we’ve turned this whole thing around, and we don’t even know what’s important anymore. I think we’re losing the Gospel because of the way we celebrate-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… or, we don’t celebrate.

Andrew Marcus:

We don’t celebrate. Yep. That’s huge. I wonder. So, you’re saying the most significant moment in history is Palm Sunday?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Oh, it’s a cross-

Andrew Marcus:

Or, just… Yeah. Just this moment in-

Dr. John Neufeld:

Palm Sunday-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Palm Sunday opens us up to Passion Week-

Andrew Marcus:

Yes, yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… and everything that happens-

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… in that week. So by Friday, Christ is-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… crucified. Of course, by Sunday he’s raised from the dead.

Andrew Marcus:

Can we talk through some of the details of the week leading up to it?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Sure, sure.

Andrew Marcus:

So, I know Sunday is a big deal, Palm Sunday. Anything significant on Monday, or-

Dr. John Neufeld:

Well, let me just finish off-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… Palm Sunday because-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. Please.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, what happens when he rides into Jerusalem?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. Please.

Dr. John Neufeld:

He’s staying in Bethany, which is, I’m going to say, maybe about six, seven kilometers out of Jerusalem. Now, this is Passover, and Passover made Jerusalem swell to three or four times the size as people from all over Israel, and what was called the Diaspora, which are Jews that lived in all of the other countries around them. They would journey towards Jerusalem. Passover, you’re commanded to be there. So, they would come, and every place is rented out. I mean, the place is jammed. If you got an extra room in your house, you’ve got two people staying in one room. Right? Because everybody is just jammed in. All the surrounding villages are occupied, as well. So Jesus is outside of town, does it deliberately so he can ride in. So often, we just simply tell the story. So, what does he actually do when he gets into Jerusalem?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

The answer is, he looks around, and turns around and goes back to Bethany. That’s it. I mean, in one sense it seems anti-climactic. You say, “But, didn’t you just ride in to the applause of the crowd?” Yes. He did, but he’s also indicating that you have the wrong expectation. “You think Rome is your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is that you have a debt before God. The biggest problem, that you’re lost in your sin. The biggest problem, you stand before God’s judgment. God’s righteous and will treat you in wrath. You need a strong champion to deliver you from the punishment of your sin.” He comes in, and doesn’t do what they expect him to do.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

He goes back. Yeah. That’s Palm Sunday. I mean, it’s on Monday that he comes back in. Of course, we know the story of the cursing of the fig tree. Well, it’s a fascinating thing about the cursing of the fig tree. A lot of people don’t understand. What had the fig tree ever done to him?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. Let’s walk through this. This is fascinating.

Dr. John Neufeld:

The answer is that the fig tree is a symbol of the temple. What Jesus is going to do in his once for all sacrifice, on Friday, is he’s going to render all of the temple sacrifices to be useless because his one sacrifice will now supersede everything else. There are a couple of meanings in that. I mean, one is that Israel, as Jesus would say, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned those who are sent to you.” I mean, he’s basically cursing the center of Israel’s worship, and he’s proclaiming that it will be torn to the ground. So, indeed, that’s the cursing of the fig tree. He is already symbolizing that, “No one will eat fruit from you again.” Remember, he says that, and that’s what he’s saying to the temple-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… “No one will eat fruit from you again.” Monday’s an interesting day because he walks into the temple after he’s cursed the fig tree. And, what does he do? I mean, he overturns the tables of the money changers, and everything else. So, this is an interesting day. Monday is lots of… I mean, what do we say happens on Monday?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, Monday, he’s got the place in an upheaval.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, he’s ridden in on Sunday, and he’s got everybody really concerned. Now, Monday, he’s overthrowing the money changers. What’s fascinating about what he does there is that he knows they’re going to set it up as soon as he’s gone. They’re going to set up the tables all over again. The entire issue was that it was a racket. The temple was a racket.

According to the Jewish law, you could bring your own lamb. Let’s say you live out in, I don’t know, Nazareth, or Capernaum, or wherever you happen to live. You don’t want to pay for a lamb at the temple. So, what you’re going to do is you’re going to take one of your own, take it all the way to Jerusalem to sacrifice at Passover. You would know, because it had been done in the past, that the priests who would examine your lamb, even though it was without blemish, they’d say, “Oh, yes. It does have a blemish. It’s no good.” They would discount everybody’s lambs so that you had to buy one at the temple. You had to buy temple lambs, inspected by the proper rabbis, and they’d say, “This one’s clean to buy.” But, before you could buy it, “What kind of money did you have?” The answer is, “Well, you’ve got worldly currency.”

You’ve got to take the worldly currency into the temple. They’re going to exchange it for temple money, and you’re going to get ripped off when you do that. Then, they’re going to sell you a lamb, and you’re going to get ripped off again. So, it was ripped off once, twice. What was interesting, as well, is the place where this commerce was going on was in the court of the Gentiles. Now, “What’s the court of the Gentiles?” It’s the place where the Gentiles, whom Solomon had said, “When a Gentile comes to this house and seeks you,” I mean, “Lord, answer his prayer, and do everything the Gentile asks, so that when he goes back to his own country, he’s going to say, “Surely there’s a God in Israel.'” But, there was no room for Gentiles anymore because they were making money. So Jesus says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” So, this starts-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… something that spills over into Tuesday, which is a day filled with controversies.

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, “Is it appropriate to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” “I know a guy who was married to seven women, which one will he have in the resurrection?” One question after another. Tuesday’s the day the empire strikes back. Right? They’re saying, “All the crowds are just adoring him.” So, on Tuesday they’ve got questions. They’re going to trip him up, and they’re going to say, “We’re going to make him look like a fool. Nobody’s going to think he’s the Messiah after Tuesday,” except he answers all their questions. So by Wednesday, it’s kind of like the eye of the hurricane, I like to say. A storm has blown through Jerusalem like they’d never seen before. On Wednesday, everything is calm. This deathly calm happens. Then Thursday, of course, we move to the slaying of the Passover lambs, which would always happen on Thursday. So, Jesus and his disciples would kill the Passover lamb like everybody else would do. Then, they would eat it in some agreed upon place, which in this case is in the upper room. It’s fascinating about the upper room.

The Gospel of John has 21 chapters. Yes? Five of those chapters, Andrew, chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, those five chapters are about what Jesus said in the upper room. Can you imagine that? Such a big hunk of his Gospel-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… is in just these few hours in this room-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… because John wants to tell us, “You got to know what happened in there was earth-shattering.”

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Then of course, he goes up on that evening, and he goes on that Mount of Olives into Gethsemane. He prays. He’s arrested that night. He begins to be tried already on the night of Thursday. He actually undergoes not one trial, but six.

Andrew Marcus:

Mm.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Three before Jewish courts and three before Gentile courts. So by Friday morning, 9:00 in the morning, he is being crucified. So, it was a night court, which was illegal. The charges were illegal. It was a sham trial.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

He’s crucified on Friday. By lunchtime, the sun turns dark. It remains dark until 3:00 in the afternoon, when Jesus dies. Saturday. Then of course, Sunday he’s risen from the dead, and all of the world changed.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow. I know a lot of churches, even my old church, celebrates Holy Saturday.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yes.

Andrew Marcus:

The waiting.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yes.

Andrew Marcus:

They didn’t like to rush from Friday to Sunday, which I appreciated, the awkward, dark moment of just the waiting.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. In fact, there is a lot to be said about the tomb of Jesus. Let me say this about the tomb of Jesus, not only does it point out that Jesus was truly dead, but just think about the lifeless body of Jesus. There was a Roman centurion who said, “Surely this man was the son of God.” He said that when Jesus died. He looks at the dead body of Jesus, and he believes. We say, “Look, it was on Easter Sunday that hope was opened up, and then people believed.”

Andrew Marcus:

Interesting.

Dr. John Neufeld:

That man believed at the lifeless body of Jesus.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

And what’s fascinating also, this man, named Joseph of Arimathea, who had a new tomb, took the body of Jesus and laid it into that new tomb. John tells us in his Gospel that Joseph had been a secret follower of Jesus. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. When everyone raised their hands and said, “Yes. Let’s crucify him,” Joseph did not. He was desperately afraid of his colleagues. He thought, “Maybe, I’m next.” He was secretly a follower of Jesus, didn’t let anybody know. Then when Jesus died on the cross… I mean, of all the times in the world to come out of the closet and say, “Here’s who I am.”

Andrew Marcus:

Oh.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Of all the time. Can you imagine that?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, he goes, at that point in time-

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… and he says to Pilate, “Give me his body. I’m his follower.” He takes the lifeless body. We know the disciples are scattered. I mean, they don’t believe anything Joseph does.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Buries Jesus in the tomb. I don’t know what he expected. He just simply says, “I will no longer be quiet.” So, there’s something about the dead body of Jesus. You remember, Jesus said, “And if I am lifted from the earth, I will draw all men.” There he was, lifted on the cross, and now he was dead. And, even in his death, he was drawing men unto himself. There is something in this story that is so powerful. It’s hard for us to fathom that we… That’s why I believe we have to keep retelling the story.

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Because if we don’t tell it, the next generation won’t know.

Andrew Marcus:

No. And, I feel like we’re telling it less and less. We’re celebrating it less and less, as far as the culture, and where we’re going as a church. We talked about this before the cameras recorded. We talked about it, briefly, about Christmas.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yep.

Andrew Marcus:

Christmas is a big deal. We go crazy for Christmas, and then Easter just comes and goes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yep.

Andrew Marcus:

Now, in my culture, my family is Egyptian, as you know. You’ve done a lot of ministry with my uncle. Easter’s huge, and Christmas is just, “Ah. Happy birthday. Moving on.” What are the dangers when we reverse that here in North America? We don’t talk about the details like this, starting with Palm Sunday.

Dr. John Neufeld:

So, there are 89 chapters in the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the, we might say, biographies of Jesus. So, they tell the life of Jesus. I’m going to say just shy of 5% of what we find written in those four books are about Jesus’ birth. About a third of those books deal with Passion Week, which includes riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, all the way through his suffering, and everything else leading to the cross, and the tomb, and the resurrection. That’s one third. Then, if you look at the rest of the New Testament-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… I mean, think about Revelation where Jesus is presented as the Lamb who has been slain. Think about what Paul says in Romans III, that he is, “The propitiation, the wrath bearing sacrifice for our sins.” I mean, over and over again, the New Testament returns to the theme of the cross. It never, Andrew, returns to the theme of the birth, not that the birth isn’t important. But, where’s the emphasis in the Scripture?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

That’s clear. And, where’s the emphasis in terms of our celebration in the Western church? Something is desperately amiss.

Andrew Marcus:

How is that dangerous for us?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Well, you see, Christmas is really popular for the non-Christian culture, as well.

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

It’s popular because it’s a boon for the merchants.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, there’s so many businesses that they make up their-

Andrew Marcus:

The rest of their year.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… shortfall-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. For sure.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… at Christmastime. So it’s important that we keep on whipping up Christmas. I mean, the economy needs Christmas. My response is, the economy might. I mean, I’m not an economist. I mean, what-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. I’m a theologian. I’m not an economist. So my response is, “I guess.” It’s something else to ask the question, “What should Christians be doing?” So at Christmastime, we tend to give gifts. Everyone, “We’re going to go to Hawaii for Christmas. We’re going to get a car for Christmas.” I mean, whatever we do. I mean… You know?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

My 16-year-old daughter, “Look out the window, honey. You got a car. It’s Christmas. Merry Christmas.” So, it’s the time-

Andrew Marcus:

Ellie, don’t get any ideas. I know you’re only two. You got 14-

Dr. John Neufeld:

It’s the time of self-

Andrew Marcus:

… years. Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

It’s the time of self-indulgence.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

We can talk about Lent in a bit. Easter, usually, we begin the celebration of Easter 40 days before, which is the beginning of the Lenten period. It’s a time of self-denial. It’s a time of sorrow. It’s a time of self-examination. “Search me and try me, see if there’s any wicked way in me and lead me to life everlasting.” It’s becoming serious, again, and asking God to renew us, and to come to terms again with what great sacrifice was required to give us forgiveness of sins. So, hey-

Andrew Marcus:

They’re opposite.

Dr. John Neufeld:

They’re opposite.

Andrew Marcus:

Christmas is get, get, get, get, get. It seems like Lent and Easter is actually giving up.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yep. “Pick up your cross.”

Andrew Marcus:

Yep.

Dr. John Neufeld:

“Deny yourself.”

Andrew Marcus:

Yep.

Dr. John Neufeld:

“Follow me.”

Andrew Marcus:

No one wants to do that. They want to get, get, get, get, get, in our culture.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Except it’s so empty in the end. I mean, after-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… a lifetime of getting, every time we continue to self indulge, we find ourselves just a little emptier than we were before.

Andrew Marcus:

Isn’t that ironic?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Oh, my.

Andrew Marcus:

So, you mentioned Lent. I’d like to talk about that, and just get some understanding of it. Maybe a lot of people who are watching, or listening, don’t understand what Lent is. So, it’s 40 days before. Can we talk first about Ash Wednesday?

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. 40 days before-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… Easter, is always a Wednesday.

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

Dr. John Neufeld:

And-

Andrew Marcus:

That’s Ash Wednesday.

Dr. John Neufeld:

And, we call that Ash Wednesday. So, “Why?”

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Well, historically, within the church, Ash Wednesday was called that because believers would gather for worship in service, and it would introduce the Lenten period, a time of reflection and examination. So, people would come forward and receive, either from a minister, sometimes a priest, depending on one’s tradition. The priest would make a sign of a cross on your forehead in ashes. Dust in ashes is mourning. So, this is a time of mourning. This is a time of humility. This is a time of seeking the Lord while he may be found. So, it would introduce us into this time period. So, Ash Wednesday was always the gateway, the entrance. “Okay. We’re now in the Easter season. It’s time to think about and reflect on the meaning of the cross.”

Andrew Marcus:

I was doing a tour in the US. I was in San Diego, and I remember going to a restaurant with a friend. Every single person in the restaurant had an ash cross on their forehead-

Dr. John Neufeld:

Interesting.

Andrew Marcus:

… which I thought was very fascinating. I’m assuming not all those people there are devote followers of Christ. I mean, I could be wrong.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah.

Andrew Marcus:

It seemed like it was a little bit of a trend, kind of like Christmas is a cultural trend. So, I just thought that was really interesting that everyone was doing it.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. I mean, there’s nothing in the Bible that says we have to celebrate Lent. Let’s be clear about that.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But, there’s nothing in the Bible that says we need to celebrate Christmas.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

It’s fascinating to me that in the North American Church, if you say, “I don’t celebrate Christmas,” we kind of think, “You might not be a Christian.” Right?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But if I don’t celebrate Lent, well, that’s what’s expected. Right? And yet, Lent goes right back to the foundation of the church. Christmas doesn’t show up till almost 300 years.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. Fascinating.

Dr. John Neufeld:

So, the reality is this is our ancient tradition-

Andrew Marcus:

Yup.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But, there’s something else that’s involved. I think one of the reasons why Lent has gotten a bad rap is because people do silly things during Lent. “I’m going to give up chocolate during Lent.” You hear about all that stuff. Right? So-

Andrew Marcus:

If you gave up chocolate, God bless you.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. My response, always, is that we ought to do what Psalm 1:39 tells us to do, “Search me, oh, God-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… and try me-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… and see if there be any wicked way in me.” So, Lent should be a time of self-examination, asking the Holy Spirit to give us insight, “If there is anything in the way in which I’m acting, or a habit that I’ve formed in my life, that is displeasing to the Lord.” So, let me give you an example. Let’s say you come to the conclusion that, “One of my difficulties is I tend to gossip. I tend to slander others.” So, people would go into Lent and say, “The Holy Spirit has revealed this to me. So, I make a commitment before the Lord. For the next 40 days, I will allow no negative thing about any person to escape from my lips. I will learn a new habit with the help of the Holy Spirit, and I will give up speaking ill of people, and speak only well of Him. This, my commitment to you, who died for me.”

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

Dr. John Neufeld:

So, this helps us celebrate because when believers do self-examination, and when we build it into a tradition, then we expect ourselves to come every year and ask, “Lord, renew me again. Have I allowed undisciplined patterns to develop in my life?” Rather than to let them go on, year after year after year, every single year we come back and say, “What are those things? Cleanse yourself from them.” That can be a great practice as believers enter into that period.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. That’s huge. And you mentioned, Lent, there’s no biblical reference to it.

Dr. John Neufeld:

No. There’s no biblical reference-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… to it, at all.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

We do know that in Scripture there is a pattern of developing celebrations. We know that very early on, the Christian Church had three celebrations throughout the year. The highlight was always the Easter celebration. The second one after that was Pentecost, which is not only the coming of the Holy Spirit. It’s that, for sure. That’s the church’s birthday.

Andrew Marcus:

Huge.

Dr. John Neufeld:

That’s huge.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

This is when the church began. So, that was always a huge celebration.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I’ll bet you most North Americans don’t ever remember celebrating Pentecost. Then, the third one would be the celebration of Epiphany, which would be celebrated in January, by the way. It would be the celebration of the beginning of Christ’s public ministry, when he began to preach, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” So, after he is baptized by John, he goes public. They would say, “This is the time when the great light began to shine in the world.” So years later, Christmas gets added to that.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Weirdly enough, in North America, it’s almost like we’re left with a Johnny-come-lately. I’m not arguing against Christmas. I mean, I’m all for it. I love Christmas.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But-

Andrew Marcus:

It’s just fascinating how that one has been elevated, and the other ones are almost gone.

Dr. John Neufeld:

They’re almost gone.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. And-

Andrew Marcus:

That’s dangerous.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Easter remains, but it is languishing.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Sometimes, it looks to me it’s almost on a respirator.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, yeah. That’s really sad because we just walk through Holy Week, or Passion Week. It’s like, “This is the foundation of everything.”

Dr. John Neufeld:

I know.

Andrew Marcus:

This is everything.

Dr. John Neufeld:

This is our faith.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah. If we can’t get together and celebrate our faith, I mean, when do we do that?

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah. We were talking before that Lent is not really a biblical practice. So, you pose the question, “Do Christians even partake, if it’s not biblical?”

Dr. John Neufeld:

Well, you see, here’s the thing. We are given freedom, and I will not condemn someone who takes no time to celebrate any Lenten celebrations.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

We’re given freedom-

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… in this sense.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

But, if we’re going to do that consistently, we need to start releasing people who say, “I don’t do Christmas.”

Andrew Marcus:

Right.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Stop looking at-

Andrew Marcus:

Right.

Dr. John Neufeld:

… them down our nose.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Stop pretending, “You must belong to some kind of a cult, if you don’t do that.” Then, have the same attitude across the board. On the other hand, I would say, “It’s good to build traditions into our lives and into the lives of our children.”

Andrew Marcus:

Yes. Huge.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I mean, traditions really do center our kids into the historic faith, if they’re good traditions.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

Dr. John Neufeld:

I would argue that Lent really was a good tradition.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, yeah. That’s awesome.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Yeah.

Andrew Marcus:

I pray, if you’re watching or listening, that Easter is a big deal for you, too. I’m really grateful for you to unpack what this week looks like for us, how significant this week is, how significant yesterday was for Palm Sunday, and how it started this whole week, and how significant, and beautiful, and amazing, this weekend-

Dr. John Neufeld:

Amen.

Andrew Marcus:

… is for believers.

So, I hope you’re inspired today, if you’re watching or listening, to just be in your word, diving into your word, immersing yourself in this story, and realizing that this is the moment that changed your life, and changed history forever. Thank you so much for unpacking that for us.

Dr. John Neufeld:

Thanks for having me.

Andrew Marcus:

God bless you, man.

Dr. John Neufeld:

God bless you, Andrew.

Andrew Marcus:

Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. For more great content, check out the INDOUBT show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream your podcast. We hope you enjoyed it today. Feel free to check out indoubt.ca. We have some great resources available to you. Have an awesome day.