Today is not a day for good news. It’s not the day to look at the silver lining, or even the promise of what is coming. Traditionally, it’s a day of fasting, silence, and mourning.
Well that’s just not ok, is it? We don’t do well, as a culture, with unmitigated sorrow.
Until we find ourselves, as individuals or families, in the middle of the suffering. Then we don’t want to hear about how there is a silver lining. We don’t want to look for the bright side. We don’t want to hear about God’s plan for good. Those things hold truth, but the time is not right.
You know why? It’s because our souls know we need to walk the road of sorrow. We just need to be sad, sorrowful, mournful and honest for a while. It’s the “and” we are always looking for- yes, we will hear about silver linings and blessings and promises. Yes, we will not grieve as those who have no hope. But we will grieve, and many in our community know this well.
Today is a day for walking the road of sorrow with Christ. Not because there is no hope of coming joy.
We walk this road because Christ walked it, and he suffered. He needed his friends, and his friends betrayed him. He asked the Father to take away the coming events “if it is your will”, and his Father said no. He knew there was no other way, and he agreed “for the joy set before him.” The crowd who welcomed him as a king now chanted “Crucify him!” Lied about, spit on, brutally beaten, burdened with the instrument of his own torture.
If we want to call ourselves friends of God, we walk this path with him, for he walked this path for us.
We cannot know the value of the friendship he offers if we insulate ourselves from the cost he willingly paid.
Jesus has been disappointing people for a long time.
It’s not surprising once you hear him say he is the image of the Father God, who has been disappointing people since the earliest days of his interactions with man. And today is no different. It’s a day lots of people call “Palm Sunday,” and in our area at least, we are marking three weeks since schools closed, four online Sunday services, and the beginning of a whole new daily life for many. Some of us have a lot of disappointment- maybe even anger. Very understandable, in many cases justifiable anger.
The people surrounding Jesus during this last week of his life- well, their disappointment and anger were understandable too.
The crowds were so excited. They had been waiting for this day, when a Messiah would come and free them from the cruel oppression of Rome. And now- here he is! Finally, they will be freed from unjust taxes, unfair burdens, unwarranted executions. They wanted to be rescued, and we would all agree that’s understandable, even justifiable.
Judas was mad. We cannot be certain why, but one historical source says there is evidence that Judas worked on behalf of the poor and the vulnerable. He could not believe that Jesus would allow a bottle of perfume to be poured all over his feet- not when that bottle would have kept people from starving. In this scenario, he wanted to feed the hungry, and that is understandable, even justifiable.
Mary was sad. Her precious son, her first-born, was putting himself at risk, making himself a target for the power hungry, ruthless leaders. She just wanted him to be safe, so that he could continue his good work of teaching, and that is understandable, even justifiable.
The closest of the disciples were confused. They had joined a movement that was bringing healing and life back into their people’s lives. They had sacrificed so much- maybe everything- and now…now what? They just wanted good to prevail over evil, and that is understandable, even justifiable.
What is your disappointment? What is mine? Can we dare to speak it? Is it ok to be disappointed, even angry with God?
I think it is.
Look at these people again. After the events of the week were over, these groups that all started from a similar place of crushed expectations- what happened to them? They ended up in two groups with very, very different outcomes.
Judas couldn’t get past what he saw as the betrayal of Jesus, so he found another way to get the money for the hungry people he wanted so desperately to care for. He could not see his way back, so he ended his life in guilt and shame.
The crowd’s disappointment was easily manipulated by the very people they needed to be freed from, so many found themselves just days later yelling “Crucify him!” in a Roman courtyard.
But on the other hand, Mary and the faithful disciples found themselves welcoming a resurrected Jesus back into their midst, and listening for the first time as he explained the mystery of the ages to them. Gone was any disappointment, and no anger remained.
What made the difference? It wasn’t the presence of doubt, fear, anger or disappointment in one group and not the other.
The difference was found in what they did with their very understandable, even justifiable emotions. Did they stay focused on the ways that God, Jesus had let them down?
Judas and the crowds did.
Or did they keep their hearts fixed on God in the middle of their confusion, remaining together as a community of faith as they waited on him?
And that is the question for us today. Where do we go when we feel that Jesus has disappointed us? Will we show up in our faith communities? In our commitment to remaining in the presence of God?
It’s time to close the book of Jeremiah. Can’t say I’m sad- there is a lot of destruction and death in that book, all because of rebellion and sin. Kings and their people chose to trust anyone but God. Babylon, Egypt, foreign gods.
As a reading for Lent, though, it is a true and necessary message. We see the power, wealth, success, glamor of the world, and it looks so right, so real. We forget it’s just a snow globe constructed around us, filled with trickery and illusion. What is real and true is God, in all his loving kindness.
God sent Jeremiah to the Israelites, and, in his loving mercy, to us as well. It is God’s message of love, of his parent’s heart for us, his children. “How I long to make you my sons…you will call me ‘My Father’ and never turn away.”
But it is also God’s message of lament for our rebellion. For the death and destruction that comes when we choose false power and deceitful promises. Let’s not skip that part as we look toward the hope. That is what Lent is all about. Love and hope, and our repentance of what would separate us from God.
We will be his people, called by his name, covenanters with him.
Remember back when we started Lent and the world was carrying on like normal? Take a minute to look back at your thoughts about Lent. I’m no fortune teller or mind reader, but I am 100% sure you did not expect it to be the way it is today.
You might need a minute. So much has been lost- for most of us, it’s just for a season, but it’s still a loss. And some losses are profound- lost senior years, the last year of playing a sport or the last opportunity to star in a play. Jobs. Death of a loved one.
Some losses are just simple pleasures- coffee with friends, larger family gatherings, physical church attendance. One of my favorite IG art posts reminds us we can be disappointed AND grateful, we can feel like everything is falling apart AND hopeful. So if you need a minute to mourn, take it. I did.
OK back to Lent. It’s a time of self-reflection and repentance; has it brought you the same new opportunities it has me? This morning I had a new opportunity to see my pride. I realized that I like to call it a work ethic, or diligence. But that’s just me lying to myself, and this time of surreal isolation made me realize that.
In the spirit of finding the “and”, I have added a prayer to my lent journey. Join me if it resonates with you.
prayersformychildren.org 