April 1, 2015

“Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.”
Collect for Wednesday in Holy Week

This is a hard week.  We move from shouts of, “Hosanna!” and the singing of, “All glory, laud and honor, to thee Redeemer, King!” to shouts of, “Crucify him!” and the singing of, “Ride on! Ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die.”

This is a hard week.  We participate in the last supper, both in the form of the agapé meal on Thursday evening and in the final Communion of Holy Week.

This is a hard week.  We silently watch as Jesus is taken away from us and we actively desert him, both being symbolized in the stripping of the altar.

This is a hard week.  We walk the way of the cross, stopping fourteen times to pray and meditate on that event.  We hear the seven last words of Christ spoken from the cross as he is dying.  And we see the tomb where his lifeless body is laid, symbolized by the empty sanctuary and funeral pall over the altar.

And while this may be a hard week for us, it is nothing like the week experienced by Jesus, for we are not likely to be whipped or spat upon.  What Jesus did was to take the sin of the world upon himself for our sake.  He allowed himself to be whipped and spit upon for daring to give a voice to the voiceless.  He allowed himself to be whipped and spit upon for having the audacity to treat all people as equal in the eyes of God.  He allowed himself to be whipped and spit upon for challenging the deeply held religious beliefs of certain people.  He allowed himself to be whipped and spit upon because love is greater than obedience.

There is a lot to pay attention to this week, not the least of which is our own personal acts of betrayal and denial.  But as we spend time reflecting on those mighty acts, may we also look to see how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  How might we give voice to the voiceless?  How might we work to treat all people equally?  How might we challenge certain beliefs, choosing love over obedience?

Those are often unpopular stands to take, and taking those stands may cause us a certain amount of suffering.  But if we choose to follow Jesus down that path, let us pray for the grace to accept that which comes our way.

May the movement of this week affect you deeply.  May you have the courage to follow in the way of the cross.  May you accept what comes with grace.  And May you have the faith to see through to Resurrection.

Amen.