Program Transcript
Episode 23: Indebted for the Resurrection. A Moment with Garrett.
Heather M R Olsen
Shalom each of you. We are rounding the bend to Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday! This is always a favorite time of year for me—the most somber and the biggest miracle to date!
Holy Week is pivotal in the faith of believers in Jesus. Without Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are just another religion. Remember our faith revolves around Jesus doing all the work, and us doing none of it. We cannot work our way into His Kingdom. We simply receive His gift. There is nothing any of us can do to earn His love. Remember, God so loved the world? He loves everyone—each of us, honestly, whether one believes or not.
If you are a seeker, or new to the faith, here is a recap:
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, biblically the first day of the week. As directed, two of Jesus’ disciples brought him a young donkey, borrowed and never ridden. A king’s entrance on a donkey, per ancient near-east custom, indicated that they were in peace time. The people got it wrong, or wished for a different outcome, as they celebrated, waved victory palms, and welcomed the King as a warrior messiah. That King, if a warrior, would have ridden into the city on a powerful horse, as indicative of wartime. But this entry into Jerusalem in the first century was no physical war. Not this time, but rather a spiritual war that would end in Victory for Jesus and all who put their faith in him.
This entrance into Jerusalem was prophesied hundreds of years prior in,
Zechariah 9:9
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The rest of the week following is Holy Week. It continued as Jesus cleared the temple courts of “dens of robbers” (again) (Mark 11).
Jesus was anointed with a pint of very expensive perfume. This would be similar perfume for anointing a King at coronation, or a body at death (Matthew 26, Mark 14). And this scent would have followed Him the rest of the week, for all to smell.
Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Passover, early. They met in what we call an upper or upstairs room. This Passover meal, now called the Last Supper, was when Jesus inaugurated His New Covenant with the disciples, sharing his body and blood. The meal was followed by prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ betrayal, and arrest.
Jesus’ trial would illegally take place all night, as he was carted back and forth from the ruling class of Jews—the Sanhedrin, King Herod, and Pontius Pilate. The disciples scattered except John and Peter. Peter, out of fear, disowned Jesus three times.
Friday, Jesus was tried, lied about, mocked, flogged, spit on, beaten, crowned with thorns, and rejected.
He was led to his execution, outside the city walls, and nailed to a cross, the death of a non-Roman criminal. In 6 hours, due to massive trauma to his human body, the weight of the world’s sin throughout history, and God turning away, His body and soul succumbed to death. Willingly. It may seem that this was done to him, but He came to be our final sacrifice voluntarily so we can enter a relationship with God. Throughout hundreds of years of Church history, the Jews were blamed for killing Jesus. Make no mistake, Jesus came to earth, to ultimately die for us, and it was his own choice.
On the third day, Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb, but rather alive! He revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene and two other women, who got to be the first evangelists and witnesses to his resurrection!
Though Easter is a spring holiday celebrated with new clothes, eggs, bunnies, and chicks, the gravity and magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection should be overwhelming.
I brought a friend here today to share a paper he wrote in 8th grade. He has long been an adult but recently was digging through papers and boxes of old school stuff. This paper was dropped in front of me, with a smile. I read it with tears in my eyes; little 14-year-old Garrett bore his soul as he shared Truth and his testimony in a public-school writing assignment. His child-like faith and tenacity are beautiful.
H: Welcome Garrett.
G: Thanks for having me!
H: What got you digging into your ancient boxes?
G: Well, I’ve been writing a lot more, and I wanted to see what “Little Garrett”’s origins of writing were; what got him started.
H: Do you remember writing this paper? Were you nervous to hand it in?
G: [chuckling] I don’t remember at all, but in those days I was nervous for nothing.
H: How is your faith now compared to Little Garrett?
G: You know, it’s hard to beat that child-like faith!
[both laughing]
H: Friends, please welcome Garrett as he reads, The Home of the Brave.
G: Thank you.
“Courage can be defined as either braveness or stupidity; depending on the situation one uses the trait in. But what does courage actually mean? Microsoft dictionary defines it as ‘the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain, without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action.’ This could fall under the category of either braveness or stupidity. Dictionary.com defines courage as ‘the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc, without fear.’ Again, this could be categorized under stupidity or bravery. But, when I went to the Bible, there were too many definitions to count. Most of them—basically all of them—defined it with six main words: strong, for what is right, and good. At first glance, these are just words we learned in first grade. But as we think about them, these are powerful words. Strong, as in big weight lifters and stuff, but also, firm in a belief, in peace, in mind, in love. For what is right; this pretty much explains itself, as in sticking up for the little guy, the one who needs it desperately, and what you know is right. And finally, good. People normally think of this word as not great or awesome or spectacular, but rather middle class, and imperfect and infilling. Good is not any of those things; it’s better. God is good. The earth is good. We are good. Courage is good. And courage is moral. Being moral is knowing right from wrong, when enough is enough, and when to be a Good Samaritan. So I think I have a pretty good definition of having moral courage. It is having strong and good courage for what is right. Jesus has the courage to die on the cross to take away all sin in the world and in me, so that I may enter the kingdom of Heaven.
“Even though many people have helped the world make it better, Jesus Christ gave his own perfect life to save the lives of sinners that betray him. The world has a lot of sin in it, and it needs someone to clean it up. Then God sent His one and only Son to help the world understand that sin is evil and not the path that should be chosen. Jesus wanted to teach the sinners of the world to live not in sin or fear but in glory and love. One of my favorite qualities of Jesus is that he never turned down anyone that needed help. Jesus was never selfish and had much courage to stick up for what is right, and he died for a good cause. Also, Jesus persists to help anyone that truly needs it, even when scorned by others. He dared to tell off kings and Pharisees because he is the King of kings. He also knew when and how he was to die, but had enough moral courage to follow through. Jesus was truly the light in the darkness of the world.
“If Jesus did not come down to us, then we would not have had the great lives that we have been living. When Jesus died, he took on all the sin of the world and brought it down with him to hell. He then left all the sins there and he can still take our sins away today. Our God is a loving God who forgives sin and evil doings and just simply casts them away. There was also a thief next to Jesus who was also on a cross who repented before Jesus. This made the thief be able to get into heaven with Jesus. The person on Jesus’ other side spat at him and scorned him and laughed at him, but he went into hell that day. Jesus said that if we believe in him and accept him into our hearts, then we too can enter heaven, the Kingdom of God. The decision to spread the Word of God to the people cost Jesus his life, but he did it anyway because he loves everyone in the world. God loves each of us as if there was only one of us, and He would and did do anything for us to help us. God loves the world so much that He wants us to live in His Kingdom forever.
“Jesus has influenced my ways because I go to church, I pray, and I love him. I believe that Jesus loves me too and he is my best friend because of what he did for me. The Bible says that I am one of God’s creations that He created for a purpose, and I want to fulfill that purpose by spreading the Word of God any way I can. God will be near me on my adventures, and I know that He will love me for who I am or whatever I do. Without Jesus, I would be nothing. I am so very fortunate though that we have a loving God, one that cares for us and for me even though I am the worst of sinners. All I know is that God and Jesus will stick with me no matter what.
“Jesus has much moral courage. He persisted through the rough times when everyone wanted to murder him. He saved the world by giving his own perfect life to save the lives of the sinners that betrayed him and beat him and murdered him. He saved me, the worst of sinners, so that I could be with him in heaven forever. So, if you were in Jesus’ shoes (or in this case, sandals), would you stick up for what is right to save your worst enemies?”
H: Thank you, sweet friend.
You are so loved by the one true God,
By Jesus, His resurrected Son, and
I know for certain that the Holy Spirit lives within you.
Continue sharing and changing lives!
Listeners, what is your Resurrection story? How has Jesus left you in awe of His overwhelming sacrifice? How do you reflect this gratitude? It’s personal, as though for you alone.
So, to each of you – I will tell you the same.
You are greatly loved by the one true God,
By Jesus, His resurrected Son, and
As a believer, the Holy Spirit lives within you.
Start or continue sharing and changing lives!
May you experience Holy Week in a meaningful way this year, realizing the gravity and magnitude of our Messiah’s sacrifice.
May your celebration of the Resurrection be fresh and new, encompassing the miracle of death to life, in Jesus and in ourselves.
Jesus loves you so!
He is Risen! Hallelujah! He is Risen indeed!
**Heather!
©2025 Heather M R Olsen, Illumination: Hebrew Insights. All rights reserved.
