It was on the Friday

From pillar to post

tried by religious authorities,

political authorities,

and by ordinary people.

Tried and found wanting

on trumped up charges

from corrupt motives.

Tried, condemned and summarily sentenced to death,

death by public execution, nailed to a cross of wood,

witnessed by friends and family

by criminals and soldiers

experiencing total dereliction

surrendering his spirt

into the hands of God.

And the crowd moves on

to find something new

to catch their interest

a dead Messiah

can't cut it any more.

And, even though we know

the twist in the tale,

we who know the joy

of Easter Sunday

are no less fickle

as we seek new thrills

and fresh scandal

in which to become embroiled.

And still Christ hangs on

to his cross

determined to save

the likes of us.

Hallelujah! What a saviour.

It was on the Thursday

Back to the city

Sharing Passover with his friends,

showing them how to serve,

washing their feet,

serving at table,

being God incarnate

layering everything with new meaning,

the depth of which they could only grasp

after his death.

And, after instituting a memorial,

he went out into the garden

to await his betrayer's kiss.

Knowing agony

but remaining resolute

to do God's will.

Off he goes to arrest and trial

witnessing all his friends

fleeing and failing

yet still looking on them

with eyes full of love

and a heart full of forgiveness

and a mind resolved

to save the world.

Hallelujah - what a Saviour.

A woman's instinct

In Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper

a woman went with her gut

she saw something she could do

and, in love, she did it.

While the religious authorities were pontificating,

getting all aerated about their rules being flaunted,

while the political kaisers were brewing venom

perceiving their supremacy was being eroded

while the men around Jesus were humming and hawing,

knowing something was up but not sure what to do,

a woman saw an act of spontaneous love she could offer

and she did.

Pure nard became pure love

poured out extravagantly

without inhibition

flooding the room with fragrance

soothing the Lord

with healing balm.

"Wherever the gospel is preached, this story will be told in memory of her."

We remember a woman who gave

spontaneously, extravagantly, uninhibitedly, in love.

We salute her instinct.

And we look for opportunities

to trust and to act on our instincts with spontaneous love.

It was on the Wednesday

On the Wednesday, at last

he kept a low profile

"withdrawn in silence in Bethany"

But it was already too late.

Judas was bargaining with the chief priests

negotiating his thirty pieces of silver.

It would take more than a day in silence

to quell the resentment he had stirred up.

It would take more than a day withdrawn

to let the furore die down.

And you would think it would take

much much more than a day's retreat

to prepare himself

for the agony that awaited him

much more than a day

to step back into the fray

and continue his journey

to the cross.

In that final week

he kept out of the spotlight

for a day.

Hallelujah! What a saviour.

It was on the Tuesday

It was on the Tuesday 

that he told stories

about the two sons

the wicked husbandmen

the marriage supper

the ten virgins 

and the talents.

He fielded questions,

batted them right back

to the Pharisees, the Sadducees

and that "certain lawyer"

He looked into the future

and predicted

that Jerusalem would be destroyed

and painted a picture

of the last judgement.

All in a day's work

for a man on a journey,

 a man whose friends

were dropping like flies

failing him at every turn.

And who can blame them?

Who wants to set themselves up

for public execution?

Best to get out now

as the stories gets stranger

and the teaching gets too near the bone.

That was on the Tuesday...

It was on the Monday...

Mark 11:15-19

Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’ And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples' went out of the city

The crowd has dispersed for now

but still Jesus hogs the limelight

upsetting the temple traders

re-asserting the law

fascinating onlookers.

The religious big wigs

did not appreciate

that he pointed out their failings

and they're already determined

to get him

they are desperate

to put an end

to his unconventional behaviour

that attracts attention 

and encourages ordinary people

to act subversively.

Keep a low profile?

He wouldn't know how.

He is on a mission - 

uncovering  failure

all the way to the cross.

Fool's errand

It started with the search for a colt

a fools errand for the disciples

It ended with a parade

a clown's procession for the common people.

For Jesus used that colt

to laugh in the face of the authorities

taunting them

flexing his muscles of influence and popularity.

He really should have been keeping a low profile.

But, throwing caution to the wind,

he took himself into the city

and, enjoying, momentarily, the protection of the crowd

he pushed his enemies over the edge.

And he knew it.

He looked around, saw it was late, and left.

Late on so many levels.

Late in the day.

Late in the journey.

Too late for him.

His boats were now burned

and the salvaged timber already fashioned

into a cross.

A simple request: Find me a colt

set in motion

a whole series

of truths and dares

of arrest and trial

of betrayal

and denial.

His fate was sealed

and so was our redemption

as palms dissolve into passion.

A fool's errand indeed!

Liz Crumlish Palm Sunday 2012