“What do you do?” It’s a question that I get from time to time. It is the dynamic equivalent of the college “What’s your major?” Some people bemoan those questions because they are so cliche, but I actually think that there is something to them. When we ask “what do you do?” we’re asking for glimpse into that person’s ability, their direction, and their ambitions. So when I say, “I’m a pastor” or “I’m a campus minister”, that does tell you something about me. It doesn’t tell you about my beautiful wife and my adorable little girls. It doesn’t tell you what is on my Spotify playlist. But it does tell you something about me. 
In my vocational coaching conversations, I have been invited into some of your lives and I’ve been largely finding out the question of “what do you do?” It’s been fascinating – from the entrepreneurs I’ve talked to about their start up ideas to the retired people and what they’re up to to the people who are trying to figure out work/life balance. “What do you do?” is a pretty provocative question.
So what if we got to ask Jesus, “Hey Jesus, what do you do?” Maybe that seems like a silly question. But is it? Sure, asking Jesus what He does misses some things about Him, but it also answers a lot. Historically, starting with a guy named Eusebius in the 300’s AD, we have said that Jesus does three things – or has three vocations. Honestly, there’s more than just three, but those three encapsulate much of His work. Those three things are prophet, priest, and king.
This Holy Week, we’re going to be taking those things in reverse order and adding one. It’s going to go like this:
Palm Sunday (4/14, 11am) – King – Jesus is our King. He rules, He protects, He leads, He gives us direction, He sends us forth.
Maundy Thursday (4/18, 6:30pm) – Servant (not one of the original three) – Jesus stoops to wash the feet of His disciples, tells them to serve one another, love one another
Good Friday (4/19, 7pm) – Priest – Jesus is our Priest. Not only is He our priest, but He is also our sacrifice. He presents to God the holiness we could not muster, and that holiness is Himself dying on the cross.
Easter (4/21, 8:30am AND 11am) – Prophet – I often tire of the “flattening of prophecy” that makes it just about foretelling the future (it is much more than that, it is speaking God’s Word in the present as well!). However, in terms of Jesus’ Easter vocation, this is what He is doing. He is showing us the future, our future, a future won for us by His death and Resurrection.
So join us starting this Sunday for an exploration of Jesus’ “what do you do?” answer, and in it, find the answer for your life.