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The Hardest Week |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 3/25/2008 9:04 AM | Greetings!
This is a hard week.
As I look out my window I see a gray sky accompanied by a steady cold rain. In many ways, the gloom of the day mirrors what we feel as we move this week we call “Holy.” When I stop and really think about what was happening during that firs Holy Week, I can scarce take it all in. I can’t even imagine what the people who lived through it the first time coped.
First, there are the disciples of Jesus. Jesus is sending them cryptic messages about his not being around much longer, and that must have been confusing. They witnessed a joyous occasion when they entered Jerusalem, but that was to give way to even more confusion as Jesus is arrested later in the week. Their anger with their brother Judas must have led them to want to lash out, but they were overcome with a fear that drove them into hiding. And as they abandoned Jesus, can you imagine the guilt that must have induced in them? While they hid, Jesus died. But how can that be? How could he die? They were just starting to get used to the idea that he was indeed, the messiah.
And speaking of Judas, what could possibly have led him to do such a thing? Was it greed? Was it frustration with the slow movement of progress? Had he come to the conclusion that Jesus had to be forced to reveal who he was and so pushed that by betraying him? And when he had second thoughts, his betrayal led him to take his own life.
What of Jesus? Fully human and fully divine means that anything a human would feel, he would feel, too. He knew what was coming. He didn’t want to go through the excruciating pain, but he would. He didn’t want to die on the cross, but he did. He wondered aloud if there was some other way, but there wasn’t.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, might have had it worst of all. This was her son. She knew before anyone else who he was and who he would become. She had trusted the angel when she was visited in Nazareth some 33 years earlier, and she would have to trust again. But it must have been hard. It must have been agony.
It was not a good week for anyone back then. It is not a good week for anyone now.
As we sit in the comfort of this Holy Week 2008, it is important that we let our minds go back to the awful experiences of that first Holy Week. It’s important that we feel the confusion of the disciples, the guilt of Judas, the pain of Jesus, the overwhelming sadness of Mary. It’s important because this all happened for us as well as for them. It is not just some abstract event but a real, living, breathing week of confusion and sorrow. It helps us understand how much has been given to us and what has been done for us. It helps embolden us to stand up for our faith today.
It is a hard week.
But next week…ahhh, next week is a different story. The greatest story. And it all begins at dawn on Sunday morning.
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