The brutal way in which Jesus suffered and died that we may live is the contradiction God used to prove his love for us. This day, some 2,000 years after the Crucifixion, we are flies buzzing about a cross, seeking Jesus as our host, knowing this love is our salvation.
On the Night Before… “It was as if a shadow passed across the floor in that upper room. I wanted to scream, to stop him, but my lips were fastened shut as if gripped by invisible fingers; I watched in mute silence, an inexpressible grief gripping my heart as he began washing our feet and wiping them with the towel he was wearing. Simon Peter had protested but relented; I too wanted to refuse him, to hold back my feet… “
In today’s readings, three great men are suffering: King David (who is most probably the author of the psalm), Isaiah and Jesus. They have been betrayed, scorned, spit at and shamed for the Lord’s sake. Yet they confess confidence in God’s presence and seek refuge in his love. The beauty of these Scriptures seems to tear down our childhood dream of good things happening to good people.
If Lazarus were really dead, Christ couldn’t have brought him back. He must have been in a deep coma or something. Burning bushes? Loaves and fishes? I don’t think so. These colorful stories and hundreds more like them surely were fables designed to enthrall the easily enthrallable, not me. I hoped that God existed. But he had not as yet revealed himself to me in any way that I understood. I would figure him out and find my faith on my own in my own good time.
“Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us….” Easier said than done! How can we “lay aside” our sins, and what is “the race that is set before us”?
We are but six days away from the Crucifixion. Caiaphas, high priest, has persuaded the Pharisees that by executing Jesus they will keep the Romans at bay. And so now it is just a matter of time. Another human atrocity — the worst atrocity ever — is about to be committed.
“I love thee, O Lord, my strength” These are words of joy — they leap out to me, and I am smiling as I open my arms to receive them. This is God! Perfect love! Love has always been important to me. Knowing and understanding love is a lifelong project. As a child I used to watch adults and wonder what love was. Perfect love. How I longed (and still long) to give and receive perfect love. Of course, as I am working in my classroom, I sometimes forget about love and God…
M.F.K. Fisher remembers a time when, on Maundy Thursday, there was in Aix-en-Provence a kind of fiesta of reposoirs, or Altars of Repose:
Chapels that were forever otherwise closed to the lay public were open that day…. In the small convents and monasteries the whole main altar, with, as I remember it, no candle or flame burning, was turned into a wall, a solid wall, of the most beautiful flowers that could be found….
Today’s lesson from Daniel is the tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that seemed so fantastical in childhood. As an adult, I have to wonder, “Why risk being hurled into a fiery furnace when you could just pretend to worship the golden calf?” The unfortunate truth is that it’s rarely the most attractive option. The passage commands us to leave the safety and security of where we are. To be strong. To risk being unpopular. And even to suffer. Examples abound.
Lent is a time of reflection and absolution of one’s sins; however, the forgiving of sins is only accomplished through faith in the Lord and acceptance of Christ’s words as those of God. These three passages poignantly speak to elements of the Lenten “contemplative process.”