This is Jesus

 

Like many, I assume I become more focused on the gifts of Jesus Christ in my life during this Holy Week.

On one hand I wish I didn't need all of the ceremony and ritual remembrance to  maintain that focus.

But on another I recognize and accept that the scriptures are full of examples of rituals and remembrance that show this is a meaningful part of our human experience.

And who doesn't love a reason to gather and celebrate?

So throughout  the week I've tried to be a bit more aware of the events that transpired in his last week.

On Palm Sunday we joined friends on a walk through an outdoor "Stations of the Cross" symbolizing Christ's own walk as he made his was down Via Dolorosa, his final path through Jerusalem.  And I wondered would I have been their laying my robes and palm leaves? What do I now lay before him? 

Holy Monday - the cleaning of the temple- what aspects of my own house need cleaning?  

On Wednesday a friend shared her faith's observance of a tenebrae service in which psalms and scriptures were paired with hymns as they thoughtfully acknowledged the suffering and burdens the Savior willingly took on for us.  With each passage or number, a candle was extinguished symbolically showing the darkness in our lives without His presence.  

Maundy Thursday - the Savior washed his disciples' feet and with the sharing of the Last Supper, instituted the sacrament. Washing feet .  A symbol of his humility and his love. 

I reflected on a moving moment in which I observed foot washing.  We had just moved to Goshen and I took Ella to a back to school night at a local Missionary Church at the invitation of a new friend.  We enjoyed some games and bounce houses, a generous backpack of school supplies including some bookmarks featuring depictions of Jesus and his love hand drawn by their children's Sunday school classes and a delicious plate of pancakes and sausages.  It was a pleasant and heartwarming experience as we wound our way along the path through the event. 

But then we reached the end and approached two long lines of folding chairs arranged side-by-side and facing each other.  

And on one side was a long row of teens.

Ella sat down on an empty chair across from a teenage boy who smiled and said hello.  Then they checked her shoe size and he took her shoes and socks off and he gently washed her feet.  He put on a brand new pair of white socks and an adult behind him retrieved the correct size from a mountain of shoes boxes behind him.  As he laced up her new shoes, he reminded her that Jesus is with us every step and to never forget that.  

I will never forget that experience.  And neither  will Ella.  

Finally Holy Friday.  The crucifixion of the Lord.  The sacrifice is complete. In Matthew 27:54 "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, saying, Father, it is finished, thy will is done, yielded up the ghost."

This is Jesus.