But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Dear Friends in Christ,
This weekend starts the great sacred drama of Holy Week. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This is also Passion Sunday, when we hear of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion, a sort of overture to the Holy Week dramas of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Combining both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday into one service is jarring—a radical shift from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify him!” We see the fickle loyalties of people spin on a dime, caught up in their own fears and passions. The story is not unlike our stories, part of a public culture where the loudest voices of all stripes have abandoned the pursuit of solutions in favor of polemics, disdaining reason in favor of blind anger and prejudice.
And yet, these fickle people—including Jesus’ fickle disciples who abandoned him—these are the souls for whom Christ died. Even these, his enemies, are broken and yet beloved, breaking him, and yet remade by him, bound by their own self-destruction, yet freed by the one they condemned. These are souls like you and me, often at our worst, and yet loved into life by God incarnate.
Come enter the sacred mysteries of Holy Week, bringing all of who you are into the depths of God’s grace and mercy. Pass with Jesus from death to life, and share that life with others.
Yours in Christ,
-Tom