Palm Sunday is the last but one, in our Lenton meditations. We now face the last dramatic week and the eventual challenge of the Easter faith. In the meantime we shall be going through the dark night of Maundy Thursday and the gloom of Good Friday.
In Luke‘s Gospel the journey to Jerusalem starts in chapter 9 verse 15 with the words:-
“Jesus set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem “. These words inspire me. Jesus knew that Jerusalem meant death by crucifixion, he had warned his disciples what to expect and they were “filled with fear and awe “ ( Mark 10:32) they wanted Jesus to turn back, but the master kept going and the disciples followed behind until eventually they arrived on the Palm Sunday Road. We can learn much from all this. How do we face our’Jerusalem’s and ‘Calvaries?
If we cringe and allow our fears to take over, we are likely to falter and seek an escape route. However, if, like Jesus, we are convinced that somehow our ‘Calgary’ is part of our divine destiny and that the father is travelling with us, then we too will “set our face steadfastly “, whatever the costs.
In his IMITATION OF CHRIST, Thomas A Kempis says:- “If you bear your cross willingly, it will bear you “. This is a reflection of Jesus saying:- “Take up your cross daily and follow me. “ (Mathew 16:24) this passage is also linked with ’Finding your true SELF in God’.
This is a profound concept, but it is true to deep human experience and Holy week is the right time to grapple with it. We tend to think that life is to be found in self – preservation and ego gratification. We want to please ourselves and affirm our personalities. Sometimes we get intuitions that this may not be the right stance, but we follow the crowd and continue on the ‘Broad and crooked way’. The , STRAIGHT AND NARROW” is unpopular, but it is the Way of Jesus, who also claimed to be the TRUTH AND LIFE.
HOLY WEEK and EASTER IS THE OTHER SIDE OF CALVARY.
