On the way to the Cross

“ It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of the Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus, by stealth and kill him; for they said , ‘ Not during the festival or there may be a riot among the people.’ ”         Mark 14:1-12

This news item in the story about Jesus in Mark’s biography, happens right before the arrest and death of Jesus. A few items before, Mark reports that Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem with a parade by some people. So, Jesus is in the city for a week. He and his disciples must have been very afraid as they walked the streets of Jerusalem during that week.

I must remember that in today’s church and societal role, I am one of the leaders. I am no longer a lead pastor, and I work only part-time as a church leader, but I am usually to uphold the ideas and rules of the Church. I do not ask , “What would Jesus do ?”I ask myself “ I ask ,” how does Jesus inspire me to live a life  of love and compassion ?” I am not the Messiah, and that is not my role in the Church. Jesus is the Son of God, and I am not that either. So Jesus can do whatever a Messiah needs to do in the situations we find in the Bible. I am not going to be the Messiah.

So, I do not ask what would Jesus do in any situation. What were Jesus’ options as he was nearing the end of his life ? He said later , that if God can remove his horrible death from the salvation equation, he would like that. But, did Jesus have any other options ? Could he have been violent in the kingdom building ? Could he have gone to heaven, and left before the nastiness began ? Or, could he have left Jerusalem, and went back home, and then he could come back again ? What was Jesus thinking for the the last week of his life ?

Mark’s words in the above quote come from reflection. Jesus and his friends did not know this. One of the scribes, after the event that took place, must have told them and it came down to Mark. Mark wrote this story about Jesus’ life about 40 years after Jesus died. Look at what other comments Mark adds to the story.

So, it is a few weeks from the Cross.  What is important for your journey of faith, as you meditate on Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, and then to the Garden, the trial and then the Cross ? Can you walk alongside the events that we will remember through Holy Week ? Do you stand fsr back, and observe, or do you see yourself as a disciple, right in the middle of these events of our faith ?

Dear God,

Holy One

Ground of our Being

Creator of Heaven and Earth

 Lord of Justice and Peace.

 Speak to us,

 as we walk into the Cross once again.

 Sometimes, because we know the story so well ( or we think we do ),

that we go through the motions on the way to the Cross.

Revive my faith , O God, so that I might live a life full of compassion and love. AMEN