My alarm went off at 6:40 am Palm Sunday morning. Asleep on a sofa bed in my parent's home office, their King Charles Cavalier and I didn't budge. At first.
But since coffee brewed in the
kitchen around the corner, and I was expected to accompany a 7:30 am choir
rehearsal at Mom and Dad's church, I got it together. By noon I had
traveled from 'shouts of hosanna' to the 'foot of the cross' twice, and in
the process, had worn out my hands.
It was quite a feat since their
choir director was hospitalized just three weeks ago, leaving their traditional
Palm Sunday musical offering in limbo. But lay people jumped in. New music was
picked. And I offered to play.
After three long rehearsals in two weeks, we performed over thirty
minutes of music, allowing others to contemplate Holy Week in scripture and song. From palm branches to betrayal, we lived the week that changed the
world.
I woke tired Monday morning. My feet and hands ached. Quite depleted,
I conquered the day one hour at a time. While I tried to push through, I gave
up completing this post around midnight, unable to find the right words to capture what I felt.
Because we’re still living the week that
changed the world. But in our hurried culture, the monumental days can easily slip
by unnoticed.
Wanting to understand them more, I scanned the four Gospels and
counted how many chapters detail the events. Surprised, I learned that almost
half of the Book of John takes place after
The Triumphal Entry. A third of Matthew and Mark’s accounts are dedicated to
Holy Week, while Luke, the detailed doctor, only needed a fifth of his
narrative to complete the task.
What does that mean? A high percentage of the Gospel’s writings
focus solely on what we celebrate this week.
And there’s a lot to take in.
Mary anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Crowds cheered and
waved palm branches as he later rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Jesus cleared the temple. Cursed a fig tree. Haggled with the teachers
of the law. And watched a poor widow put two very small copper coins in the
temple treasury.
Matthew recounts five parables, the seven woes, and the greatest
commandment in the first days of the week. Mark and Luke focus more on the ‘signs
of the end of the age.’ While John details Jesus’ words and prayers of comfort
in length.
Their different perspectives round out a more complete picture.
Have you ever gone through a high crisis week with family or
friends? I can only compare it to the week my first husband died. Every person involved
remembers it differently.
The basic details are the same. But the moments that spoke to our
hearts are drastically different.
And that’s how it must have been with the disciples. Once Jesus
had risen, ascended to heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit as counselor, hindsight would’ve allowed for a clarity
they didn’t begin to have when He untied that colt and hopped on.
He’d predicted his death, but nothing prepared them for the sight
of his blood-stained body left hanging on a cross. Yet the intensity of those moments burned the memories deep in their psyche.
And later they wrote.
So take some time. Savor their stories. Contemplate the complexity of emotion felt as a life was given in exchange for ours.
In doing so, this week will change your world.
You can find the Triumphal Entry recorded, beginning in Matthew 21;
Mark 11; Luke 19: 28; and John 12: 12.
All photos courtesy of pixabay.com
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