Dear Friends,
All year long, we read about/study/drink in Jesus’ public life.
Lent prepares us for the bleakness, the darkness of the passion,
and yes, beyond that, a new day, glowing in the heart of Christ.
We believe that the promise of life is stronger than death,
but we linger in faith in the events of Holy Week.
The day comes in Jesus’ public ministry that he sets his face toward Jerusalem, his destiny.
He encounters believers and skeptics along the way.
His disciples jockey for power.
He finally enters Jerusalem,
applauded and honored.
The next day, Jesus spares the barren fig tree,
but he himself will not be spared.
Later in the week, on the night before he dies,
Jesus eats the Passover meal with his disciples.
He knows how God fed the Israelites as they fled from bondage to freedom.
Jesus’ disciples, too, will pass with Him from bondage to freedom.
In His passion, in the agony in the garden, Jesus yields control of His life.
Disciples and friends will not/cannot watch with him.
He is accused, mistreated, rejected, jeered at.
Jesus is utterly vulnerable and on the way of the cross, reveals his physical weakness,
a tenderness for others.
Falling, falling, falling, He lean on another.
He is lifted high,
with no disciples at his side
and he dies.
Though it is day, night descends. Darkness covers the earth.
He dies.
“We shall never lose Christ.
If we do not follow Him, He will follow us…
Not too closely lest he take away our freedom…
But near enough to wash our feet when we are ready…
Close enough to give us bread and wine in our weariness.” (John Bell)
May the God who holds Jesus close on the cross and in the grave
hold us close as we strive to fathom and welcome the depth of Jesus’ gift to us all:
Death, but not forever.
Darkness, but not forever.
Light and life with Christ, our Brother and Lord, forever.
May the God of mercy,
who is well acquainted with grief, bless us with faith that our God lives.
And with God, we shall live.
~Sister Joan Sobala
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