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A Reflection from the Fuel Daily Readings App from Palm Sunday 2021. Click here to read the reading.
Why do we read the whole passion story the week before Easter when we know we’re going to read it again on Friday? Seriously, that’s a really long story to read more than once in a week. And, if you’re anything like me, you may have been tempted to gloss over it because you’ve heard it all before and you know you’re going to hear it again on Friday. But I didn’t gloss over the readings and I feel like there are some important things for us to take with us into Holy Week. Because the first reading is not just Isaiah’s song to the Lord in his time of suffering, or a foreshadowing of Jesus’ song, but our song. It is a reminder of how we should be entering into the coming week and the weeks, months, and years that follow.
The first reading encourages us to give a “word of comfort to the weary.” Why is this important? Because Lent is supposed to be a time of almsgiving. And maybe, if your Lent has been like mine, you haven’t given this enough time or energy. But with one week left, we’re offered a really simple way to give alms, to give a word of comfort to the weary. But we are by no means limited to giving a word of comfort, and I hope that we all feel compelled to give everything we have because as we just read, Jesus gave everything he had for us.
I know that I have the tendency to make life about ‘me’ and what I can ’get’, instead of thinking about what I can give, and maybe you do too. And that’s pretty normal, as the Gospel says “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. But, the second reading is supposed to remind us of how Adam sought to become like God in Genesis by ‘taking’ the apple, that’s our human tendency to take. But it also reminds us that Jesus did not take from the tree, but gave his life on the tree. Which is why this week especially we should be willing to be like the woman with the alabaster jar we saw in the Gospel and give as much as we can!
We also hear all throughout the First Reading, Psalm and Gospel about God’s chosen people being struck by enemies, having their beard plucked, being insulted, spat on, surrounded by dogs, having holes put in their hands and feet, scourged, and so much more. These are all things that the Jewish people did not expect the Messiah to endure, maybe things that even the disciples didn’t expect the Messiah to endure. So, the disciples left Jesus and the Jews crucified him. But as we have seen, and as we will continue to see, this is exactly what the Old Testament pointed to, and even what Jesus said would happen. But sometimes we think we know what’s going on, we gloss over the scriptures, we don’t see the part about the man who ran away naked, and we miss what God is trying to tell us.
Which takes me back to the first reading, how each morning we should ask God to make our ears alert so we can listen like a disciple. Why is this important? Well, I’d like to think that if I knew I had one week left on earth I’d make sure that the things I shared with the people around me were the most important things I could tell them. So, let’s be sure to listen up this week, because this is Jesus’ last week with his disciples and he has some important things to share with us.
+ Jesus, help us to be like the woman with the alabaster jar this week and give everything we have because you gave everything for us. Help us to be attentive to what you want to say to us through the scriptures so that we do not desert you this Easter. Amen.