What Are You Thinking?
We have just read the Passion according to Luke’s gospel. What are you thinking? With these intense readings we need time to process our thoughts. We begin with the waving of the palms. Telling our children to behave or we could poke someone’s eye out and then we are drying our tears because of the injustice done to Jesus.
But our thoughts become messy/unpleasant in these long readings. It is difficult to focus. Maybe you have relatives at your house today to celebrate an early Easter and you have a ham in the oven. Or have you heard the Passion many times, too many, and the words have no effect? Or maybe they have too powerful of an effect and you just can’t listen? Or maybe one of the kids couldn’t sit still any longer and you needed to find a quiet place? What are you thinking?
The injustice committed against Jesus. Today there is injustice in many countries. If you hear the news on television, your mind is probably overwhelmed with too much information. How do you process this all? This is one of the two times that you in the congregation can speak in the proclamation of the gospel. In general, people are shy to begin with, but when we come to Crucify Him, crucify Him, you end up saying it with a certain amount of fervor. Then suddenly you realize what you just said. If you were there, would you, also, have cried out, Crucify Him, crucify Him? What are you thinking?
We begin Holy Week as we leave the church today with our thoughts. Listen to Jesus when He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Will these words be in your heart and mind as you do your normal tasks this week to remind you of the solemnity we have entered? Or will you need those words to remind you that we are human, and we forget the holiness of this season?
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen