Holy Week

I think it is by God's amazing providence and foresight that it's time for Holy Week. I'm thankful for the deliberate consideration that it stirs up, for the sacrifice that it encourages us to muster in light of what Jesus has done. I find myself hungry and thirsty for this soul-work as I find myself in the midst of a challenging season.

Today is Palm Sunday. Whenever I think about Palm Sunday, the following verses come to mind:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-39)

After Jesus enters Jerusalem -- met with ultimate praise, acknowledgement and acclaim -- he weeps. He was proclaimed rightly, as Savior, King and God; yet he knew that it would only be a few short days until that praise turned to reviling and utter hatred. And yet how he still longs for them! How he still longs for us! It seems utterly impossible that such a love could exist, but it does. He does. Why do we fight it? Why do we turn away in unbelief? Why do I fight him and turn away from him in unbelief?

I hope to know this great love more intimately this Holy Week. I hope to know this longing. I hope to embrace what it means to be gathered under his wing more fully, to grasp it more fully somehow, to turn toward him and embrace him as he sets his face like flint and heads toward the cross. I have a feeling this is what he wants, as well.