I posted on Faceook the following reflections each day of Holy Week, April 2020, during the midst of the Corona Virus pandemic. I thought I would save them here, too.

PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2020

I have been thinking about Palm Sunday, and how the people lined up to praise Jesus as he came into Jerusalem on a donkey, and how they were all too eager to lay palm branches at his feet while they were celebrating Passover, while times were good. And yet, within a week, all but a handful of them would abandon him to suffer on the cross all alone.

I believe the Lord wants me to see that I am no different from those people. I often find it easy to praise the Lord in times of celebration, when life is going well and I seem to be on top. During those times, I want to let others know what the Lord has done for me, and I want to shout it out.

Yet, do we abandon our praise and our faith when it requires us to stand in the midst of injustice and cruelty, when it requires us to take a stand for something quite unpopular, even among other “good church people” or among those in power positions?

I pray that I will love Jesus and have faith in Him like Mary Magdalene, his mother Mary, and his disciple John who remained at the cross, sticking by Jesus the midst of the darkness, because they are the ones who witness his resurrection first. The ones who suffer with him are the ones who are comforted and enlightened first.

So, let’s praise him on a Palm Sunday as He enters the city, but let’s also praise him during the dark days of Thursday night’s last supper, and Friday’s crucifixion, and the lost day of Saturday. Because then comes Sunday, full of light and life – if we just have faith.

Holy Week Reflections #2

Monday, April 6, 2020- Mary’s Sister

When I was writing my post for Palm Sunday, I took notice of something in scripture I hadn’t noticed before – that along with Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene at the cross, another woman was there. John 19 says that “his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas)” was there, too. Mary’s sister was there with her as she watched her son suffer and die on the cross.

Why should I notice that fact now? Maybe because we find ourselves in the middle of one of the most bewildering and difficult situations we have ever faced collectively, and one clear factor that makes this pandemic so difficult is that we must face it nearly alone. Quarantining has forced us to separate from those we often relied on as our support system.

We see clearly at the cross that women who knew and loved Jesus best not only stick by HIS side until the very bitter end, but they also stick with each other, offering support and love to each other through the darkest hour of Mother Mary’s life. Her sister and Mary Magdalene brave danger and ridicule together to be with Jesus, and they see each other through the tragedy.

Here is what we must do now. In the midst of danger and trouble, we must stay beside our sisters, if not physically, at least emotionally and spiritually. We must take care to notice the pain in our sisters’ lives, be close enough to question when they don’t seem themselves, and then sit with them, holding their hands or just existing side-by-side, letting her know that we will endure the pain with her. She is not alone, even when she feels totally abandoned and lost.

Thank you, our three Marys, for showing me the power of sisters supporting and loving each other through it all. And thank you to my sisters who have sat with me in times of trouble and heartbreak. May I do the same for you whenever you need me.

Holy Week Reflections #3

Tuesday, April 7, 2020- Mary Magdalene

I have to confess that Mary Magdalene might be my favorite woman of the Bible. I have others that I love, but Mary Magdalene is a symbol of all that Jesus is.

We learn in Luke 8 that Jesus had cast out 7 demons from her. He rid her soul of 7 curses from Satan. My girl had it rough, but Jesus rid her of those demons, and she never looked back.

Mary Magdalene followed Jesus faithfully from that point on. She supported his ministry with her own money, she traveled with him at times, she was there at the cross, and she was there to take care of his dead body.

Yet, there was no dead body; Jesus had risen, and she was the first to carry the message into the world.

Mary Magdalene shows us that Jesus sees into our depths, into our troubles, and has the absolute power to remove those demons from our lives. So whatever it is that plagues us, even if it is something that society deems horrid and won’t forgive us for, Jesus will forgive it and take it out of our lives.

And not only will he forgive us and move us past those demons, he will build us up. He will empower us to do good in the world, to carry that same forgiveness and redemption into a world full of demons, and to fight those demons in His name.

Jesus is not dismayed by the names the world calls us; He sees us as Father God created us, beloved children that he wants to develop into powerful warriors, messengers of goodness and light. Women who leave a historic mark.

I love Mary Magdalene because she is all of us women who have felt berated and belittled by society, but who are uplifted and empowered by Jesus.

Holy Week Reflections #4

Wednesday, April 8, 2020- Mary, Mother of Jesus

I doubt that I could add any new thoughts on how amazing Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is. We all have heard about her remarkable faith and obedience to the Lord, and I have even become downright sentimental here on Facebook before when I have written about her as a mom, watching her son throughout his tumultuous time on earth.

Yet, there is a reason we continue to go back to her and continue to write in awe of her. She is an amazing woman for so many reasons.

This year, however, I have been thinking about how long she knew and how much she knew about who Jesus really was. That brought me to the wedding at Cana, the first miracle of Jesus.

I have heard pastors talk about the symbolism of turning water into wine, and I have heard comedians make jokes about how even Jesus’s mom laid guilt trips on him by asking him to help the wedding hosts.

But we can’t look over the truth that Mary prompted him into that first miracle. Jesus tells her that his time has not come, but Mary tells the hosts to do whatever Jesus says.

Now, of course, that is a valuable lesson right there: we should listen to Mary and do whatever Jesus says to do.

Yet, let’s look at this from a mother’s point of view. She obviously knows that Jesus has miraculous powers or some kind of special ability or she wouldn’t have come to him for help. She knows him well enough to know that he will help the hosts if he sees they are in trouble regardless of the time. They obviously have a very special, close relationship that implies knowledge, truth, and trust.

Then, when Jesus is dying on the cross and she is kneeling there with him to the very end, Jesus’s concern is for her wellbeing. He makes sure John is there to take care of his Mama. And she, like Mary Magdalene, is one of the first to see him resurrected.

So, as the mom of two boys, I see Mary as my model for being a good mom. She shows us that we can push our boys a little when they need a push. We can build airtight bonds with our sons if we truly try to get to know who they are, who God made them to be, and not try to change them to suit our expectations. And those bonds between a mother and son are ultimately unbreakable if they are based in love, truth, and trust.

I honor you, Mary, for sacrificing at a level I can never understand so that all of humanity could have eternal life, peace, and love.

Holy Week Reflections #5

Thursday, April 9, 2020- Maundy Thursday

So much happens today, so many events I could discuss. I am perpetually bothered by Judas’s actions. I am perpetually in awe of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. I am perpetually heartbroken when Jesus prays in the garden.

But today, the Lord leads me to Peter, cutting off the ear of the man who has come to arrest Jesus.

I told my pastor and his wife the other day that I wanted to be like John, the disciple of love, but I know full well and good that I am far more like Peter, the hot head.

To me, Peter represents our human desires and our gut reactions. Our gut tells us to fight – to fight in the sports arena, to fight for academic achievement, to fight for a political cause or candidate, and even to fight this virus or to fight for our rights to rebel.

When something gets in our way, we want to whip out our swords and cut it away, just like Peter does to this guy’s ear.

But not Jesus. He reacts with healing. Says he has had enough of violence. Says that those who live by sword die by the sword.

These words come from a man who is about to suffer unspeakable violence, a man whose side is about to be pierced by a sword.

Jesus reaches out and heals the ear of the man who has come to arrest him – unjustly arrest him, for he has done nothing wrong.

Think about that. He reaches out and heals someone who intends to harm him.

Healing is a true mark of a believer, and one who can heal, or aims to heal, their enemy, one who tries to bring goodness and health and light to the life of someone who intends them evil and illness and darkness in return, is one who truly trusts Jesus.

That is why we honor and recognize the medical professionals right now – they do the work of the Lord. And we thank you for the sacrifices you make in order to heal others.

Let us remember that Jesus sought to heal in times of trouble, and let us try to follow his way – let’s put down the swords and reach out in love to all people, even those we consider our enemies, even those who mean to harm us.

Holy Week Reflections #6

Friday, April 10, 2020- Good Friday

Good Friday. The day of crucifixion. Again, studied and discussed by far more capable theologians than I.

So I started to question: what stands out to me about the crucifixion? I have already talked about three women who stayed with Jesus at the cross when others abandoned him. Now my thinking seems set on those church people who demanded his crucifixion in the first place.

Now, here is where it gets sticky and might offend some, but I am following what has been on my heart for a while here.

In John 19, Pilate asks, possibly mockingly, if the people, the religious people who supposedly worship Jehovah God, Yahweh, if they really want their king crucified.

They reply in earnest, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Caesar, who is a government leader from a very different tradition. The church people openly choose to follow a human being instead of the living Word of God right in front of them. They select human power over Creator power. They bow down to government instead of God himself.

Now, one might argue that they were an oppressed people who were afraid of the power exhibited by the Empire. Sure. Truth. And I imagine they were quite afraid of the social, economic, and political dangers of opposing that government.

But they went further than trying to live peacefully under the rule of a dominant power; they switched sides. They chose to promise allegiance to the Empire instead of Creator God.

Have we done the same? Have we promised our lives and our devotion to an earthly power? Do we follow human beings instead of the living Word of God?

We live in a culture that prides itself on patriotism and celebrates a devotion to that culture. While we are called to be responsible citizens who “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” we are never to render our worship to Caesar or to the Empire because it is not theirs to have.

Our worship, our devotion, our primary allegiance belong to God in Heaven, whom we reach through the Holy Spirit, given to us through the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I have to remind myself that even as I love my country and its history, and even though I believe I have a civic duty to improve my community, my first priority, my love, must reside in the heart of Jesus.

I follow no human.

I have no King but Jesus, who supersedes all earthly Empires and transcends any earthly power.

Holy Week Reflections #7

Saturday, April 11, 2020- Dark Saturday

We know very little about the Sabbath after Jesus was crucified on Friday. We know the officials wanted those crucified to be good and dead by sundown Friday so they could observe the Sabbath as required by Jewish tradition. We know the women at the cross gathered the materials necessary to prepare Jesus’s body for burial. We know Joseph of Arimathea offered his family tomb for Jesus’s burial.

We can imagine Saturday was a dark and uncertain Sabbath for the disciples and those who loved Jesus. A day of feeling guilty for what they didn’t do for Jesus in the previous 24 hours, or a day of mourning his death, feeling fully the loss of him from their lives.

Certainly a day of questions: What do we do now? How will we go on from here? How different will the future be now that he is gone?

Saturday after the crucifixion might feel something like the darkness in which we reside in the midst of this pandemic. Seems to be pretty bad right now, and no one knows exactly how this will change our future, but we are all certain it will.

It may be tempting to look ahead to the miracle of Sunday, but those present then didn’t have that benefit. They could only sit still in sadness and reflect on what had been and wonder about what would be. Maybe we should do the same today – acknowledge the feelings that we are feeling now, take them to our Father, and let him work us through them, and let him work those feelings into goodness and fruitful actions.

I have been teaching “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, to my senior dual enrollment students over the past few weeks, and it seems absolutely appropriate to do so at Easter time, for it has inspired much contemplation about who Jesus is.

O’Connor has the villain of the story speak some very true words about Jesus – that Jesus has thrown everything off balance, that he disrupts our understanding of justice and punishment, and that if we believe he is who he says he is (without proof that he really did what he said he did) then we have no choice but to follow him.

All true.

And that is scary because Jesus really did throw everything off balance. Grace is radical, unheard-of, unfathomable love and forgiveness.

Grace runs contrary to our social tradition of punishment for what someone has done wrong and opposes our culture’s understanding of righting wrongs.

Instead of protecting what is ours, grace requires us to offer more to those who would take from us. Instead of fighting back, grace requires us to offer ourselves to heal and comfort those who hurt us. Instead of passing judgment, grace requires us to welcome them in as they are because Jesus welcomes us as we are.

These are tall orders – ones we cannot fill as we are. No way do we have the power on our own to do as Jesus did, even as we are called to do so. We can only do so through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to deny self and follow the steps of Jesus. To put others before ourselves. To reject the traditions of American culture and pick up the cross of a Jewish carpenter from 2000 years ago.

Yes, Jesus threw everything off balance, and if we are following him, then our lives ought to do the same. Considering this might make for fruitful meditations on the Saturday after crucifixion, but before we celebrate the resurrection.

Holy Week Reflections #8

Sunday , April 12, 2020- Easter – Day of Resurrection

Happy Easter, Everyone! May we all rejoice in the truth that Jesus is alive, that he has defeated death, and that he therefore provides us all with eternal life.

This truly is amazing news that changes everything. It is worthy of every celebration and exclamation surrounding it.

But may I call your attention to the very first reactions to the resurrection?

The women who approach the tomb to dress the body are blessed with the biggest and most revolutionary experience in all of human history. Then, they are given the most crucial and honored command in all of human history.  We can thank them for being servants to our Lord and for being obedient so that we all now know the truth of who Jesus is.

But first, they were afraid.

At first, they ran. At first, they hid. At first, they needed time to process this revelation. And maybe even after thinking and talking about it, maybe even then, they weren’t fully sure of what they had seen. And what they hadn’t seen. And what it all meant.

This world-changing moment was probably a whirlwind of confusion and fear for them and the disciples that shared the revelation. I am sure they probably contemplated other answers to the mystery. I am sure they wondered what it all meant for their personal futures.

Yet, in the midst of this confusion and stress, they kept the faith, they moved forward as the angels instructed, and they allowed God to use them, even though they were unsure of the outcome, unsure of how they were being used, unsure of what it all meant.

Here is the lesson I am taking away from Easter 2020 – I may be in a moment of confusion and stress. I may be wondering how this stressful situation will affect my personal life and the lives of those I love. I may not be able to see how the Lord is working through this situation.

But I can bank on the fact that he is working, and that he is working for good and love and justice. I just need to keep the faith, listen closely to what he bids me to do, and move forward in response – if I want to be a part of life-altering miracles. If I want to witness those miracles.

Happy Easter! May the blessings of the resurrection grace every moment of your day!

And thank you for indulging me this past week  as I published these reflections.