37th day of Lent

Wednesday – "Hump day." Heading away from Monday and toward the weekend usually means there’s room for a little excitement. But I feel the tension building of this Holy Week. I have had moments in my life when I knew people didn’t like me and might even be speaking ill of me to others - call it paranoia or reality or both. I can sometimes get caught in the trap of trying to please others too much, and then I can swing in the other direction too fast - not caring what certain people think at all. I wonder if Jesus had an awareness of suspicious conversations among the Scribes and Pharisees. Luke’s Gospel records the words, "they conspired against him." That had to feel terrible. Have you ever been conspired against? It has to be an awful feeling - whether you are a "people pleaser" or not.

I read once that to fall down a flight of stairs and break a leg is a painful and frightening experience. But what if you knew for days you were going to fall down that flight of stairs, and that there was absolutely nothing you could do to stop that event from happening? Wouldn’t the knowledge of what was coming make the event all the more horrible? Does Jesus sense the "conspiracy" growing? Does Jesus sense suspicious conversations all around him? Do others sense it as well?

The Wednesday of that first "Holy Week" had to be an agonizing "hump" day. I imagine Jesus wanted to return to Monday not move toward Thursday and Friday. I can almost feel his broken heart for the world. He had been sent to save the world, and now the world was preparing to do the unimagined. The world of Jesus was falling apart as they conspired to finish him off for good. Once Jesus is dead, then they would be free to live their lives without hassle and unnecessary ethical restraint. Once Jesus was finished, the world will be right again. So they thought. What do I think?