A holy week of surprises

Yesterday was the start of Holy Week, a week we are invited to move with Jesus through the final moments of his life.

That final week was marked by betrayal, love and suffering. It was also a week full of surprise, starting with how Jesus arrived into the holy city. He arrived not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. He was not there to mount a takeover, but rather to continue his movement of liberating Love.

When he gets into town, according to John, he heads straight to share a meal with his friends then shocks them all when he takes on the role of servant & begins washing their feet.

The way of liberating Love tends to involve surprise. That's why it serves us well to be leery of following anyone who claims to have it all figured out. The best we can do is to show up ready to receive, to see, to enter, to share & to join in this Way.

What helps you prepare?

Music for reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCtiuZGSt_I

Take Me to the Alley by Gregory Porter

Well, they guild their houses in preparation for the King

And they line the sidewalks

With every sort of shiny thing

They will be surprised

When they hear him say

Take me to the alley

Take me to the afflicted ones

Take me to the lonely ones

That somehow lost their way

Let them hear me say

I am your friend

Come to my table

Rest here in my garden

You will have a pardon

Art: Gustave Doré (1832–1883), Christ's Entry into Jerusalem (before 1876), oil on canvas, 98.4 x 131.4 cm.