​

Finding the “Holy” in Holy Week

Pastor Claudine Carlson

It starts off well enough. Just look at the excited procession into Jerusalem -branches waving and voices proclaiming: “Here he is! The blessed One coming in the name of the Lord!” This Jesus. Our Jesus! Any day now, Rome’s humiliating occupation and heavy tax burden will be vanquished, and we, the chosen ones, will be set free! Confident their Messiah/King is about to do what Messiah/Kings DO, their holy exuberance is no wonder. It will not last, of course. Jesus will not take up arms against Romans, King Herod, or anyone else deserving punishment. That’s not what Jesus is about. So the happy parade crowds disperse quickly, disappointed that he let them down.

The few still with him by week’s end are a sorry lot. Confused and afraid, they wonder: “What is happening?!? How did a week beginning with such a rush of holy joy so swiftly descend into this anything-but-holy hell?” At the sombre Passover meal on Thursday, they pledge their love and support - even if it means dying along with him. But later, in the garden, terror overtakes them, and they run for their lives. Jesus is left alone with the Romans he was supposed to destroy. Over the next twenty-four hours, he’ll be tortured, mocked, judged, murdered, and buried. The ones Jesus was “supposed to destroy” instead destroy him.​

Read the full article here. ​