A Week

Right now Muslims across the world are half way through Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community, while Catholics and religious denominations in the Christian tradition move into the last week of Lent, traditionally known as Holy Week. Moslems will end Ramadan with the joyful celebration known as Eid al-Fitr, while Lent culminates in Easter.  

As a catholic I understand and appreciate the symbolism and traditions of Holy Week that once gave Jesus’ death and resurrection some relevance to how I approached Lent and Easter. But it doesn’t anymore. The emphasis on words, the timing, the washing of feet, palm waving and cross carrying no longer resonate in my world of quarter acre blocks and high rise apartments, supermarkets, weekend sport, flexi time, email and crowded roads. There is a swiftly growing divide between the two approaches to the week the Church calls Holy and the supermarkets call Easter (or Feaster as I once saw it advertised).

A lot happens in a week, any week, but some weeks stand out because their ordinariness is anything but. Jesus’ last week, the one that would end in his execution and all that followed on, started out on a high. It was the Passover, the biggest celebration in the Jewish religious calendar and Jesus and his troupe of disciples had tramped their way from Galilee to Jerusalem to join in the celebrations. Unexpectedly as he entered the city he was recognised by a group of people, today you might call them activists. They were looking for a leader, someone who they hoped could restore Israel to the greatness that the Romans had taken from them, and a noisy crowd gathered, waving him into the city in a procession of palms leaves. It was an unexpected, and unwanted beginning to a holiday break.

The episode did not go un-noticed. Roman soldiers making sure that the holiday crowds didn’t get out of control made a note of it, as did the Temple priests who felt threatened by Jesus’ teaching and his popularity with people. I suspect Jesus began to feel a little anxious.

The last week of Jesus’ life would have been a microcosm of emotions, none of them easy to accept or handle. Along with anxiety came fear that he might be arrested and what that might mean for his future. It threw a pall of un-knowingness over his get-together Passover supper with friends and followers,. A shaft of disappointment must have gone through him when Judas slipped away from the gathering. A feeling of ‘this is not going to end well’ moved into overwhelming loneliness as his companions drifted off into sleep and he was left alone in a loneliness that was so intense he had a physical reaction to it. He worried about his mother, who would look after her if he was no longer there.

What followed is documented in the Gospels. Betrayal by the friends whom he loved, being shamed and feeling de-humanised when he was stripped of his clothing and mocked for it. A verdict without a trial, knowing that he had done no wrong and there was no one there to talk up for him, the verdict – crucifixion, and the plummeting knowledge that this was the end. And worst of all his despairing cry, “My God, my God, where are You?”

Jesus’ resurrection tells us he was the Son of God. Jesus’ last week on earth shows us that that fear and anxiety, disappointment, betrayal and hurt, sadness and loneliness were part of his life just as they are in ours.  

As you prepare for Easter you might ask yourself, “How have I felt this week?”  

Judith judith@judithscully.com.au