Lent day 42 - holy week

 I came across this image earlier in the week and I really really liked it.   How can something as complex as the story of Jesus's last week on earth be expressed so simply and clearly in six little line drawings?  Whoever designed this ( and it doesnt seem to be ascribed to anyone I can discover but it looks like the drawings used in the Good News Bible doesnt it?) has been clever in the details.  I like the fact that the first and last people are dressed in blue.  Celebration and joy.  And the second picture shows Jesus with a purple sash - for royalty.  It is a great thumbnail.  It was a great week.

I dont suppose any of us will ever have a week which starts with the paparazzi following us and the news channels wanting interviews and our fans camping out on the street outside out house just to get a glimpse of us and end with us being sentenced to death.  It's pretty extreme. It must have been bewildering and exhausting for Jesus.  It is tempting to think that because He was God then He was somehow unaffected by the intense emotions of Holy Week.  But He was fully human.  How did He really feel about being paraded into town on Palm Sunday with everyone wanting a piece of Him?  How did He feel about the weight of expectation which was on Him as people clearly hoped and demanded He would overthrow the regime.  How intense was the battle in His head as He wrestled with what He knew God had called Him to do?  How sad did He feel about His beloved disciples that week - knowing that when it came to the crunch they would not be able to stand with Him and that one would ultimately betray Him for money?  How torn did He feel when he realised that His mother would have to watch Him die?  When the crowd were shouting ' Free Bar-Abbas ( free the son of the father) was every fibre in His being longing to shout and yell and tell them they were being blind and misguided?   The emotions of Holy week are super intense.  And all of it was playing out in the heat of the middle east at the height of an occupation.    It can be hard for us to get anywhere close to understanding what it must have been like for Jesus and His disciples from the written accounts over the distance of centuries.

That is one of the reasons that Lent is a good idea.  It gives us a framework for thinking about the small details of a story we know really well.  It encourages us to ponder and look from different angles and to put ourselves in the story, using our imaginations to see past the words on the page into the reality of what was going on.  If we linger in the story we can start to smell and hear and feel the  crowds,  the upper room and Pilates courtyard.  It is not a comfortable place to be - and as the week goes on it becomes less and less comfortable until, by Friday, it is unbearable.   But the more we can immerse ourselves in Holy Week the more we can celebrate on Easter Sunday.   The more we understand and feel the pain of Sunday to Friday the deeper our appreciation of the victory Jesus has won for us, and the greater the rejoicing on Sunday.

I pray that this Easter God will do deeper things in you.  That He will show you more of what He was doing that week over 2000 years ago.  And that your rejoicing on Sunday will be more profound because of it.