Holy week seems to have appeared out of nowhere this year- suddenly it is almost upon us- and I have been taken by surprise by the seeming shortness of Lent...
.. as I prepare for Palm Sunday, and the week that lies ahead I am drawn to ponder the sense of surprise and anxiety, elation and fear that would have accompanied the disciples through that week...
Jesus teaching has grown stranger and stranger- there has been a certain determination about his words and movements, for one thing against all sound advice he is going to Jerusalem...
I wonder how his disciples were feeling- they had seen the miracles- heard him challenge the religious leaders with words that turned their commandments upside down, doing nothing it seemed to appease these powerful men he provoked them- surely this would cause trouble...
... the crowds came and went, one moment drawn by what the saw, the next repelled by what they heard for it called them out of their comfort zones...
... and Jesus it seemed raised the dead one moment and accepted a perfumed anointing from a sinful woman the next....
His rules were not the fixed rules of the Pharisees, he did not bow to or fear Rome... I suspect that the disciples swung between moods of elation and confusion, hope and fear....
They did not approach what we call Holy Week in the way that we do- for them the future was unknown, yes Jesus had spoken of his death; but who could imagine that he meant it?... and who could have known when or how....
Hindsight gives us privileges, yet robs us of surprises- yet if we are open to the Spirit, there is plenty to surprise us still, for the story invites us in, calls us to enter in wonder into a week like no other...
As Jesus was leaving Jericho heading towards Jerusalem he came across two blind men sitting on the road calling out to him for mercy, deeply moved he asked them what they wanted him to do for them, they asked for sight, and in his compassion Jesus touched their eyes and they could see...
As I approach Holy Week I fear that I am blinded by familiarity with the story, familiarity with the Liturgy, familiarity with the pattern of the days and events that lead up to the celebration of Easter..
Yet I must remember that even the gosples whose stories I hold so dear were written with the benefit of hindsight.
... so I pray- Lord restore to me the mystery and the wonder of this week, help me to see again, to hear your words afresh, touch my eyes, open my ears, soften my heart....
