Holy Week is not a feel-good week. By Wednesday we feel the impending darkness. On Palm Sunday the people are asking Jesus to save them, but from what? It’s not like Jesus marches in with an army to overthrow Roman occupation and its collaborators. The Gospel texts make it clear that Jesus was well aware the temple leadership was out to get him. Even so, he still took them on, both directly and in parables.
We don’t live in a very feel-good time, either. Here in New Jersey, with two of the wealthiest counties in the country, many people are hungry and homeless. I prefer those words to phrases like “food insecurity” or “unhoused” which blunt the impact of the words hunger and homelessness.
Like many other states, the income gap between rich and poor is still increasing. Those at the top still are not paying their fair share of taxes. And some political leaders say they are concerned about small business if the minimum wage is increased above the measly $7.25 on a federal level. Who can live on that? As Jesus said, look not at what the Pharisees preach, but how they live. No wonder they wanted to get rid of him.
Prayer for the Day
We know that you have searched us and known us, O God,
And we are unable to pretend that we are something we are not;
Forgive us our despair, our hopelessness, and our fear,
For we know that they close the doors to living faithfully.
Awaken us by your Holy Spirit to a fuller dimension of faith
Leading us to find in our neighbors the opportunities for love.
In the name of the One who teaches us a new way to live,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
It is not great wealth in a few individuals that proves a country is prosperous but a general wealth evenly distributed among the people.
- Victoria Woodhull, leader of Women’s Suffrage (1838-1927)
We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of public schools, and by the number of people who can and do read worthwhile books.
- W.E.B. DuBois, sociologist (1868-1963)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. Blind guides!
Jesus, in Matthew 23:23-24