-
·
Jesus is risen! Now what?
As the candles are snuffed from our Easter liturgy and the only reminders of our celebration are the mountain of candy wrappers and plastic strips approximating grass, we go back to our lives as a return to normal, as if nothing is different. And the irony is lost on us all. We go about our…
-
·
Sabbath: Holy Saturday
“The Sabbath” Read the Text: Mark 15:42-16:1 OK, I cheated. There is no text for Holy Saturday. It goes from the evening before the Sabbath to the day after. No Sabbath. Writers and theologians have been searching for the missing day for centuries. One of my favorite apocryphal stories comes from Piers Plowman, a medieval poem that…
-
·
Those Women, That Morning: Friday of Holy Week
“As soon as it was morning” Read the Text: Mark 15:1-41 There is a startling character to the Passion story. The Jewish authorities are bloodthirsty. Pilate, speaking for Rome, is strangely indifferent. The soldiers humiliate Jesus. The disciples have deserted Jesus entirely. And the women, many women who followed Him, watch from a distance. I’m struck by…
-
·
On the First Day: Thursday of Holy Week
They break bread. They eat. They drink. Then they leave for the Mount of Olives. And here Jesus declares: “You will all become deserters” Just like that. Deserters all. Peter’s protests mimic our own. Peter is always our stand-in. Surely I won’t desert Jesus, we say. Surely I would keep awake.
-
·
Two Days Before: Wednesday of Holy Week
“It was two days before the Passover” Read the Text: Mark 14:1-11 Did you notice the context? Jesus brings His followers around, staying at the house of an outcast, and is served by another. Then is betrayed by one of His own. Of course, you were naturally drawn to that age-old debate: should they sell…
-
·
In the Morning: Tuesday of Holy Week
The Jesus Movement is actually all about authority. If we recognize how Jesus challenged their understanding of authority on Sunday and again on Monday and then witness the fig tree “withered away to its roots” we may see that we, as the disciples, are the witnesses.
-
·
The Following Day: Monday of Holy Week
“On the following day” Read the text: Mark 11:12-19 There are so few opportunities to see the anger of Jesus. We get so lulled by the images of the sweet Jesus, the stained-glass stick figure or the imagined bearded Caucasian with the sheep on his back and the children at his feet, that the Jesus with…
-
·
Approaching Jerusalem: Palm Sunday
“When they were approaching Jerusalem” Read the text: Mark 11:1-11. When Jerusalem is involved, we are reminded of its fractured history. Its division. Its failure. We even see Jerusalem as a source of emotional (not just literal) pain for Jesus. We are so taught to approach Holy Week with dread. That we might look past “Hosanna!”…