Holy Week

As I write this, it is Palm Sunday. Jesus has humbly made his way into Jerusalem and we find ourselves here, yet again, in Holy Week. The season of Lent, the season of journeying to the cross and especially Holy Week are sacred times in the liturgical year. We are challenged to face our mortality and invited to rely on God through the Lenten journey but even more fully through the journey of our whole lives.

Holy Week, a week that is set apart; a week that invites us to sit in the darkness and to lean into the chaos, the unknown, and the grief alongside the disciples. It is a place most of us most likely do not want to be in and yet, we are called there, just as the disciples were.

One of my favorite scriptures is Mark 14:3-9, often entitled “The Anointing at Bethany.” In the Gospel of Mark, the woman is unnamed. A plot to kill Jesus has already been put in place, we find Jesus and his disciples at Simon the leper’s house and the unnamed woman breaks an alabaster jar of expensive ointment and anoints Jesus. She is scolded by the disciples for wasting this precious oil, that could have been sold. Yet Jesus defends her because he knows that she understands what is coming next, his death. The disciples so often miss what Jesus has been telling them all along and this unnamed woman honors Jesus with her knowledge and with her gift. The scripture reads, “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial” (Mark 14:8).

Friends, as we enter into this Holy Week, may we have the faith and courage of this woman. May we be bold enough and brave enough to accept the invitation to sit with our Lord as he moves towards the cross. To honor him on this journey by choosing to lean into the chaos, sit in the darkness, and do so with a hope that burns bright in our hearts and a love that leads us to break jars and pour out our gifts—for we know Sunday is truly coming.
Amen.

- Margaret Fleming