Jesus steps aside

It was Wednesday. The Passover was nigh.  But the disciples were still riding high.  That grand entry on Sunday told them that their King had arrived.  It was just a matter of time before the Master’s Kingdom would come.   So why was Jesus looking distraught. His steps were different from what the disciples had seen before.  At midday, Jesus went missing.  They found him on the city’s outskirts, eyes closed, his mind was off some place else.  

All too often we forget that Jesus was not going through this week texting to his Father! Nor did he have a GPS scanning those he felt certain would fall upon him by week’s end.  He was in fact very human, fully the person that you and I are.  He was no automaton going through the motions and getting ready to be nailed to the cross.  He had already prayed that the cup would pass from him.  He was human alright.

The classic theologians taught that God did not redeem what he did not assume.  That double negative was important. He came down from heaven so that we could be lifted up to heaven---and that lifting was on the cross.  We walk the week knowing Easter is ahead.  I am saying, perhaps to some disagreement, that Jesus did not have a cue card.  The suffering would be just as real as what we would feel—and therein lies our salvation.  

Let us pray: 

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.