This is a difficult day, if we let its meaning seep into our being, and into our marrow. It has come to this. Three years of preaching and teaching, comforting and confronting. Three years of mighty acts power, and small acts of kindness. Enigmatic parables, and straightforward and frightening demands. And now this. The last gathering, although most present don’t know it. A frightful wrestling with conscience, and a clear vision of what the next 24 hours would bring. Take this burden, and yet let it be according to your will.

We tend to rush through this week, in a great hurry, it would seem, to get to the end. The place we know, or hope for, or pray for, or simply wonder about. The empty tomb, the encounters, perhaps we can even hold the notion of a Crucified-Yet-Risen-One in our hearts. Yet by rushing through this week, we do the story and ourselves a disservice.

Lectionary Readings:
Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Psalm 116:1, 10-17