Monday, March 30, 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015 [Monday in Holy Week] 

John 12:9-19

Yesterday in many of our Churches we recalled the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey and greeted by bystanders with palms. A lenten Journey begun with ashes, a journey during which we've traced Jesus' time in a wilderness, a time when his footsteps then turned towards Jerusalem and the Temple, the spiritual centre of his people. This became a journey in which  he sought to proclaim that God's Kingship was not one of power and might, but one that stressed servanthood and identification with all his people, even the lowly and meek. A sign of this was his arrival at the Gate, not upon a mighty warhorse but upon a small donkey. For the Temple authorities, this entry of Jesus was in some ways offensive, even though his proclaimed kingship might also have been puzzling to them. Nevertheless, the fact that people were following him meant that they had grounds that he was upsetting the masses, disturbing the peace. 

This Week, see how the events unfold that finally drove the Temple authorites to approach the Roman civil Governor to find a final Solution. I think of the many peoples down through the ages who have been persecuted for their spiritualities as being perceived threats to the established order and who have been killed: even today in parts of the world some are still suffering this fate. God in Jesus this week walked and walks this path, be it with a courage and a dignity and a faith. For this too is something that God understands and endures. May we too grasp that such  darkness is not forever, this too shall pass.

Archdeacon Ken Cardwell