Reflection
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with." (Mark 10:38, 39)
A Word of Hope
Lines from a greeting card read,
"Love me on days when it is not easy, and I will do the same for you."
Up until this point in the ministry of Jesus, it seemed that he could do no wrong. He healed the sick. He put pious religious leaders in their places. He reframed ancient messages. And probably more difficult than anything, he challenged us to look at our lives through the lens of love. Love for God. Love for our Neighbor. While much of what he said and did confounded his followers and detractors alike, his supporters were growing in number and enthusiasm.
As he entered Jerusalem on the back of a colt, the excitement of the crowd was that of entertaining a celebrity. "Hosanna!" they cried, spreading palm branches before him and rejoicing. The Mark narrative does not tell us how Jesus responded to all of this. Was he humbly riding along, with his head down and in contemplation of the trials to come? Or was he "up," waving to the throng like someone on a float in a parade? We don't know.
What we do know is that many followed that day in joy. When it was easy. When it was fun. When everybody else was doing it. What we also know is that it wouldn't be long before he would look around and discover that he was alone. All had fled. All had forsaken him, a fact that disappointed but did not seem to surprise him. Yet still he slogged on while followers and disciples dropped out when the path became too steep and too painful.
Little has changed. In these last few days leading up to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, I sometimes wonder, if I had been in the throng, just when I would have dropped out, because surely I would have. The Good News is that in the end, the glory of the resurrection would trump any human frailty.
Little has changed. A hand continues to stretch out to me, inviting me every day, every hour, to follow.
Prayer
"Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
