HOLY WEEK

On Ash Wednesday about six weeks ago we began our journey in Lent with the imposition of ashes and the reminder that it was from ashes we have come, and it is to ashes we will return.  Those ashes were the product of the burning of palms from Palm Sunday last year, palms that were transformed by fire into ashes that carried the touch of compassion and love to each forehead they were imposed upon. We were reminded of our mortality, our need for mercy, and of God’s amazing grace. And thus, we began our Journey on the road to Jerusalem.

The story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into the Holy City ushers our own entry into Holy Week. Today we hold new palms in our hands anticipating what is to come. And as we stand in this moment it is helpful to consider what we have experienced over the past six weeks that brought us to this precipice of Holy Week.  What have we learned? How have we changed? How have we prepared ourselves for all that Holy Week brings – the drama, the tension, the betrayal, the violence, the passion, the promise and enduring love, and the hope of resurrection.

In the journey through the internal human tides of the week ahead, we should remember that the story of Jesus’ passion carries with it the burden of awareness of the suffering, the pain, and the brokenness of the world in which we live. The suffering of another is not apart from our own and not apart from that of Jesus. Just as Simon of Cyrene bore the cross of Jesus, so too are we to bear the burdens of one another. The only real tragedy in the drama of  Holy Week would be if we were to be so intent on ourselves that we forget the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world and around the corner. Jesus’ suffering is not just for each of us, it is for all of us, and it is into that radical solidarity that we are called. It is a solidarity in suffering, hope, and of God’s enduring love.

As we walk with Jesus into the destiny of Holy Week, we will experience together Jesus’s example of humility and service on his knees washing the feet of the disciples, even the one who will betray him. We will watch as Jesus is arrested, thrown in prison, judged unfairly, and ultimately crucified with his words hanging in the air: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And it is through this suffering that we become more aware of God’s unshakable love for all of humanity. As the mystic teacher James Finley puts it: “We will come to understand God as the presence that protects us from nothing even as God unexplainably sustains us in all things, that this presence of God doesn’t protect us from death, from illness, from the fear of the loss of the beloved, from the suffering of this world.” Another way to say it is that although we are not protected, we are held close through it all.  

God depends on us to be there for and with each other. Wherever there is suffering, we lean in close to touch the hurting places with love in ourselves and in others.

So, what will we do with the promise of Holy Week that we hold in our hands? Today we will sing songs of Hosanna and shout out blessings for the one who comes in the name of the Lord, and yet soon those cries will turn to shouts of “crucify him!”

But today, let’s embrace the hope that the moment brings. It is a hope that will bring us through the perilous terrain of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It is a hope that says no matter the depth of our struggle, it is not beyond the grasp of God. It is a hope that says even though we walk through the shadow of death, we will not fear. It is a hope that says the dawn from on high will beak upon us and guide our feet into the way of peace. What once appeared to be a flimsy reed, will instead prove to be the loving and powerful hand of God.

That is what we hold in our hands today.

Brother Dennis