Lent – Days 33, 34, & 35: Betray or Follow?

I missed a few steps last weeks – so I apologize that I missed blogging for a couple of days. Therefore you can count this blog for days 32, 33 and 34! I am slowing learning that God does not need perfection – just an honest effort!

So here is what is on my mind –

Passion is a kind of waiting – waiting for what other people are going to do. Jesus went to Jerusalem to announce the good news to the people of that city. And Jesus knew that he was going to put a choice before them: Will you be my disciple, or will you be my executioner? There is no middle ground here. Jesus went to Jerusalem to put people in a situation where they had to say "Yes" or "No." That is the great drama of Jesus’ passion: he had to wait upon how people were going to respond. How would they come? To betray him or to follow him? In a way, his agony is not simply the agony of approaching death. It is also the agony of having to wait. – Henri Nouwen

On Sunday we began the journey toward the cross that is Holy Week. On Sunday we sang Hosanna, in a few days we will yell Crucify!

Jesus still waits – he waits in the hearts of the hungry, the lonely, the broken, the disenfranchised, the forgotten, the mourning, the broken, the rejected, the outcast and just about anyone else who is on the ‘short’ end of the stick. His short but powerful ministry was all about those on the fringe. His passion was for those who needed love. Where is our passion? I know that we are passionate about the things that we want. We can be very passionate about our political views. We can be very passionate about our sports teams and our kids sports endeavours and our jobs and just about everything else in life but are we passionate about following Jesus?

He waits – still! Will we betray him? OR will we follow him? The truth is we can probably answer yes to both. BUT can we be courageous enough to admit our betrayal and seek to be stronger followers? It is a great question to ponder in Holy Week!