“Christ’s humanity is meant to speak to our humanity.” Marilynne Robinson in When I was a Child I Read Books.

Hebrews: 2:14-18 Since, therefore, the children share flesh
and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and
free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. (read all of text by clicking link.)

In past years, as we moved past Palm Sunday with our palm waving, hosanna-singing, and invitation to journey with Jesus to the cross, I’ve wondered how to focus on the days between Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and the end of the week when Jesus will take his last supper with the disciples, be arrested, tried, crucified --- and then come back to life.

What do we do with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and even Friday? ( And, what about that mysterious Saturday?!) How do we actually journey with Jesus to be ready to experience the gravitas of the cross so we can then rejoice with boisterous praise: CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!?

If you turn to the gospel writers, they inform us of Jesus’ priority in these in-between days. Three of the gospel writings (Matthew, Mark & Luke, called the synoptic gospels because they are similar) provide a glimpse of Jesus in the temple court speaking some of his strongest, countercultural words to the establishment of the religious order of the day as Jesus invites people to the heart of God’s message: Love God and one another.

Each of these gospels warns us (probably on Tuesday) there is a plot to kill Jesus (Matt 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-6). Jesus makes people uncomfortable while comforting the afflicted. Can you imagine the tension and buzz between people in Jerusalem?

As the last of the gospel writers, John skips much of the debate between Jesus and the religious leaders, and it is into John’s writing that I invite you to pause in our time of disorientation. He goes a different route and expands the message of this in-between week; his writing is more organic, internal, mystical and raw.

These next few days, I invite you to read John 12:20-50. Perhaps in different translations. As you contemplate Jesus’ week ponder how Jesus’ words speak into our week of:

disruption (schools closed til June);
frustration (there is not enough appropriate medical gear);
fear (do I have the virus – does someone I know);
anxiety (will I have a job at the end of this time);
loneliness (does anyone think of me)
sorrow (more deaths each day);

Perhaps these questions will guide your reading of John 12:

What does it mean for Jesus to say that “his hour has come?”
How does Jesus experience a troubled soul?
What do you notice in the relationship between Jesus and the Father?
What did it feel like for Jesus to not be believed in and still carry on?
What does it mean that Jesus came “not to judge the world but to save the world”?

As Jesus anticipates his earthly life ending, we cannot help but wonder how Jesus in his humanity experienced heartache, even torment, about what was to unfold at the end of the week – betrayal, denial, verdict of guilty, whipping, mockery and then death.

In Jesus’ humanity, he held onto a deep conviction. His life on earth was part of a larger story – a story that is for all humanity. Salvation, hope, new beginning, eternity. God disrupted the world through Jesus’ presence to alter the direction of history from destruction to LIFE. Can we believe this during a pandemic?

Sunday, with breath-taking news, will come. But, we hope you will pause today and reflect. Jesus is with you in your humanity. Jesus walked in the path of sorrow, suffering, and pain.
As the writer of Hebrews 2 poignantly declares: Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

What is Jesus’ invitation to you TODAY?

John 12 in The Message 44-46 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.
47-50 “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. I’m not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That’s all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you.”