It's hard to believe it's Holy Week already! Partly because the year is flying by--and partly because it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas instead of Easter here, with snow falling as I write this. Fortunately, the good thing about spring snow is that it doesn't usually stick around long.
So I guess my take is that things can only go up from here. :) Of course, that's probably how Jesus' disciples felt that first Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, being greeted as a king. But then, only days later, the very people who had sung Hosanna to Jesus were calling for his crucifixion. And Jesus didn't do anything to stop them.
Of course, from a 2019 perspective, we know the end of the story and that Holy Week leads to Christ's ultimate victory. But when I think about what that first Holy Week must have been like for the disciples--wow, I can't even imagine the fears and doubts they must have experienced. Even though they had Christ's promise, they didn't fully understand it yet, and everything must have felt like it was falling apart.
Aren't there times we can relate to that, too? Even though we have Christ's promise--even though we already know about his resurrection--so often we live in doubt of his goodness and his power and his love. But we aren't stuck in the doubt and confusion of Good Friday and Silent Saturday. We live in resurrection joy. That changes how we see Holy Week.
I pray you have a blessed week as you remember that Christ lived a perfect life for us and died the death we deserved. And most of all, I pray that you keep your eyes on what comes at the end of Holy Week: Easter--and with it the promise that we, too, will rise to eternal life.
