Preparing for Easter offers a beautiful time to ponder the love of Our Father. For, it is in the Body of His Son that He cloaks Himself in skin and comes among us to dwell, so that He could one day dwell within us.
Holy Week is a bittersweet clip of time and space that shows our relationship with the Father, through the actions and words of the Son. I think it is a microstory of the story of God loving and reaching out to His people and the Father desiring to make us His own. This microstory consists of His invitation and our response shown in a short week, but in reality, it is a dance that takes a lifetime to learn.
From the Hosanna of Palm Sunday to the magnificent glory of Easter Sunday, each interaction Christ has with His disciples speaks to our interactions with Him, our relationship. As Christ is welcomed riding on a donkey with palm fronds being tossed at Him and people singing the arrival of their triumphant King, I think we, too, are challenged to look at our expectations of Who this Mysterious Wonderworker is. What type of King is He to us? A great king with mighty power? A military kind of king with a mastermind that could defeat any army? If we let Him reign in our lives, will He fix everything that is wrong?
At the Last Supper, the relationship becomes more complex. The King who came riding in on a donkey, shares of Himself in ways like that of no other. He literally shares of Himself in 2 ways: in giving of His Body and Blood and in humility by washing His disciples' feet. With both He commands , "do likewise." Since this happens in the same meal, I think He is telling us that they are connected. He gives us the Gift of Himself in order for us to make gifts of ourselves.
This is also the same meal that he reveals who will betray Him and who will deny Him. A king with earthly power would not stand for any type of betrayal or denial. He would've done away with anyone who would not give him honor he was due, but Jesus doesn't stop either man allowing them freedom. The one who had been a betrayer the entire time, ends his own life finding himself unforgivable and Jesus' mercy unbelievable. The other is humbled but sees that he is not beyond the mercy of Christ, and although broken, finds healing and learns that Christ has a special place in building His Kingdom even for him. He is indeed a different kind of king.
What can we gather from this? For me, what is amazing...it's that following Christ is about a relationship of love, not just king and subject. He wants to dwell with us, share meals and talk about what is going on in life. Two: it is not easy to follow Him, especially when I am selfish or His will is not on my agenda. Many times, I haven't allowed Christ to be present to me, so how can I be a loving presence to others? Also, I see myself in both Judas and Peter, finding myself betraying and deny Christ with my sins; sometimes, I only see the bad that I've done and the shame gets me down. But, thankfully, Christ's mercy is never ending, and I can be renewed through the Eucharist and Reconciliation...because it's about relationship.
However, this love story is not over. Christ gave Himself in Body and Blood at the Last Supper, but His Body has yet to be broken and the Blood yet to be poured out.
