Holy Wisdom Church
Though today is Easter
on the western calendar, on the Orthodox calendar we are just beginning Holy
Week, with Pascha coming next Sunday.
This week is a week of pilgrimage.
We in the Church are moving through heart-rending gospel events toward a new risen
life with Christ.
This week puts us on the Path taken by Christ, who embodies the
wisdom of the Torah, biblical prophets and psalms through which God speaks to
us.
Our six-day journey can
stir up deep feelings inside us. We may begin to see how deficient and slow we
are before life’s challenges.
The Lord Jesus teaches us
the ways of prayer and the passageways of love. He mentors us on how to follow
those even in the midst of pain, fear and suffering. He laid down his life to point out the rough, narrow road to abundant
life. He was one of us, and after the resurrection he invites us to
gradually become holy and mature in giving and accepting love.
During
Christ’s humble procession into Jerusalem, the crowds spread out their cloaks
and palm branches for him on the road. They covered up the dirt and dust, but the
result was also a welcoming red carpet for the Messian and the star of the day.
Still, Jesus was not blinded by the power and glory of popularity. The crowds
faded. He showed his true self later, very intimately, when one of the thieves
crucified alongside him asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom;” and he responds, “Yes, I promise you, today you will be with me in
Paradise.”
Our Holy Journey now leads
us into a space for lament, struggle, and sorrow. Time slows down now, and with
him we pass through betrayals and unanswered prayer to a landscape of darkness
and death. In his humiliation we may feel our own hurts or
indignation. In the heartless reactions of those around him we may wonder about
our own smallnesses. Trying to maintain the upper hand: some say, “Being right
is better than being loving or loved!”
Now was the supreme hour of humanity, the
time to confront both the tiny evil within and the great evil outside
us. It was the Lord’s hour to
sacrifice and to save, and along with
him we are filled with anxiety and pain.
Some on the road “were displeased.” They wanted a powerful, savvy
leader, a figure of violence, to oppose Roman violence (always a tempting way
to go). Then the horror of untruth and
duplicity reveals itself on the appalling
Way of the Cross.
How will
we follow Christ in our hearts this
week? Can we give respect instead of self-pity to our
own suffering: this is how we break from our untrue selves! Let us face up to our blindness
and weaknesses, “Yes, that’s me!” and ask for healing and forgiveness for being
offensive.
Do we dare give kind attention to a person less sympathetic
toward us?
Do we think enough of
Christ to curb our impulses just a little and urge ourselves to be thoughtful
and honest. To let our bad habits shrivel up and die. To see each
person’s woundedness, and in the presence of Christ let our judgmentalism melt
away in embarrassment.
If we are cannot do more on this pilgrimage, let us
still quietly show love with a big heart in the journey of life. In the final
hour of Holy week, already the first hour of the New: let us not be shy making our
heartfelt appeal, “Remember me, Lord, when you come into your Kingdom.”
Christ is in our midst!
