Palm
Sunday
Matthew
26:36-27:66
Little did we know when Lent started back
on February 26 what wilderness we’d be entering into. It’s been a Lent like no
other. We have been walking through the valley of the shadow of death and on
this Palm Sunday we walk with Jesus through his valley, his passion as he
agonizes in the garden of Gethsemane, experiences betrayal and abandonment by
his closest companions, suffers through beatings and brutality,
and finally dies a painful death on the cross.
During these somber and sobering days of
Holy Week, we share in Jesus’ sufferings or, more importantly, we are assured
that Jesus shares in ours. For God does not abandon or forsake us in times of
crisis, but instead comes even closer. The love we see and know in Jesus’ life
and Jesus’ death reveals to us the holy mystery of God who enters into all
suffering, who is present in pain, and who will ultimately, in time, overcome
all of it with resurrection and life.
One of the gifts of being people of faith
is that we know how Jesus’ story ends. As we walk with him through this Holy
Week and then, next Sunday, just seven short days away, we will celebrate the
good news that death does not have the final word. Jesus is alive. He is risen.
With that proclamation the church’s
season of Lent will come to an end and Easter will officially begin. However,
the world’s Lenten season will continue with no fixed Easter date in sight.
Still, as people of faith may not know when all this will end, but we do know
how. Death will not have the final word. Life - new, abundant, resurrection
life will break forth. But in the meantime, God’s love is very present with us
now. And Christ, the one who knows in his own body, mind, and soul the reality
of pain, suffering, and sacrifice, will walk with us in the holy weeks of our lives
every step of the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment