In this holiest of weeks, the Christian faith ponders the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many avenues, many angles we can explore. Getting into the head, the humanity of Jesus. What was this week like for him, emotionally and psychologically? We know that he had fears, a second or third thought about what he would undergo. We can put ourselves into the mental space of the disciples, particularly Peter and Judas. We can deconstruct the political process, the collusion between the Pharisees and the Roman government. Or we can steel ourselves, gird ourselves up to embody the best we can the acknowledgement of the role we play in what our Savior underwent for our redemption.

For me, it is the effort (sometimes unsuccessful, I confess) to keep mundane, profane matters at a distance. Instead, I try to fill my time and thoughts with the sacred and holy; essentially living a holy week. In this greatest story, this drama unfolding this week, there is dynamic tension.  The opposition of love and evil. We are caught in our own tension of left vs. right. Either extreme comes from, as the great sage Yoda told Luke Skywalker, “fear leading to anger leading to hate – the path to the Dark Side”. That is the world that news media traffics in. Get enough people to be afraid of something, and they will be stirred to anger and hate. Too much of this going on. Put it on a shelf or relegate it to the recycle bin – whatever works for you. It is important to make this effort during this holiest of weeks. Be okay knowing that God’s perfection counterbalances (cancels out?) our fallibility. The overarching narrative of this week is one of paradox. The perfect, spotless Lamb offers himself to the most heinous sentence man can inflict. The only pathway to everlasting life is horrific death.

If you grade yourself poorly on your Lenten observance, you have this opportunity to reset. Wipe the slate clean, for God always does. His unconditional love is the purpose of the mystery we ponder – how he who knew no sin took on the full weight of it, surrendering to death on a cross for our salvation. What a good, holy week this is!

Pastor Art