Holy Week

Today is the Monday of Holy Week, just days before Jesus’s crucifixion. When I reflect on this week as laid out in Scripture, there is a somberness about it, but I don’t know how somber it actually felt at the time. I think the disciples were aware that the week may have felt different from other weeks, but we have the benefit of hindsight when we read it.  

I imagine that they really knew something was wrong at the dinner when Jesus told them Judas was going to betray him. All I can think of is the shock they must have felt to consider that someone in their group was going to do something so terrible.  

These men had been traveling together for a few years. They knew each other. They knew how to push each other’s buttons and what mattered to each person. I’m sure they acted selfishly, as we all do at times, but I also think they had each other’s backs, so Judas’s betrayal would have surprised them all.  

All that followed in the days ahead - Judas’s betrayal, Jesus’s arrest, Peter’s betrayal, Jesus’s trial, the crucifixion, the burial, Passover, Sabbath, and the resurrection had to have been a whirlwind for these friends.  

We sit down and read these words and can get through them in 15 or 20 minutes. We’ve read them so often we might even rush past them.  

But these friends were smack dab in the middle of them. What we experience in a blink was literal days for them. I imagine it was agonizing. The grief they would have felt would have been palpable. I imagine there was anger, lament, disbelief, sorrow - all the feelings.    

And then, as if in a dream, Jesus is there with them. They look at him, wondering if he is a ghost. But of course, he isn’t.  

All of that sorrow turned to joy. Somehow, despite everything, Jesus was alive. I imagine them standing there flabbergasted. How could this be? No one could really understand, even though Jesus had been preparing them for years.  

Here we stand on Monday, all these years later. Once again, it is the week leading to the cross and ultimately to resurrection. Maybe you have been surprised by something unexpected that you didn’t see coming. Maybe you are holding a great sorrow in this season. Maybe you are grieving something that doesn’t make any sense.  

I don’t know where this Monday finds you.  

But I hope that you can pause and take a deep breath. As you breathe deeply, I pray that you will experience God’s extraordinary love for you and savor the wonder, majesty, and magnitude of this God we serve. We can trust him on the darkest days and in our greatest sorrow. He is with us, always. His love for us is unconditional and eternal.  

If you are overwhelmed with how to follow Jesus right now, I invite you to remember when you first encountered Him.  How did your life change that day? How has it changed since? How do you hope it will still change? 

May this week leading to Easter be one of slowing down, resting, and reflecting, and may you find yourself holding onto the hope of resurrection and the new life that follows.  

~  Melissa