I have a lot of ambivalence and hesitancy about today. It’s one thing to hear the story of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem knowing what will happen to him. It’s another thing when we realize it is our story too – and it always is. Let me give you a few examples, some modern day versions of going to Jerusalem.

The Road To Jerusalem

I recently had a conversation with a woman whose life was directly and profoundly impacted by the Robb School shooting. She said, “I often think of suicide but I don’t want to die. Isn’t that strange?” I told her I didn’t think it was a bit strange. I said, “I don’t think you want to die, I think you don’t want to continue living the life you are. You want something more.” “Yes, that’s it,” she said. “That’s what I want.” She is on the road to Jerusalem but it will not be an easy or painless journey. 

Last week I received an email from a man who has ALS. He’s unable to speak or hold himself up and he’s losing movement in his hands. He asked if I would be open to an email conversation about his life and his reactions to the progression of his disease. He’s on the road to Jerusalem, a road he didn’t choose and never wanted to travel. 

I’ve loved being your priest the last twenty years. There is so much about my life with you here in Uvalde that I don’t want to lose or let go of but I know my retirement will significantly change everything, some of which I know and some of which I can’t yet know. I am excited about what might be ahead for me, but I am also scared and sad. I’m on the road to Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is a hard place to go to, not only for us but for Jesus too. While the great multitude in today’s first gospel reading (Luke 19:28-40) is throwing down their cloaks and praising God joyfully, Jesus is having a different experience of this day. It is described in the verse immediately after today’s first gospel reading and I think we need to hear it. 

“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!’”
(Luke 19:41-42)

Jesus is heartbroken and in tears. 

Jerusalem is the place that has no peace. Jerusalem is the place that brings us to tears. Jerusalem is the place that touches our griefs and sorrows and causes us to lament.

I wonder what the Jerusalem is in your life today. What are the relationships, circumstances, or parts of your life that have no peace? What is bringing you to tears? What are you grieving and sorrowing?

Maybe it’s the life you are living or the one you want but aren’t yet living. Maybe it’s the death of a loved one or the loss of a relationship. Maybe it’s the way your life used to be, a missed opportunity, or an unlived dream. Maybe it’s a guilt, regret, or disappointment. Maybe it’s a sense of powerlessness or being stuck. Maybe it’s facing a difficult reality about your life or a making a needed change. Maybe it’s the fragility of life. Maybe it’s things done and left undone. Or maybe it’s a thousand other things like these. Regardless, we all have our Jerusalems. 

I don’t want to go to Jerusalem. Maybe you don’t either. I’d rather stay with the crowd waving palms and singing to God than follow Jesus into Jerusalem. I even thought about omitting today’s second gospel reading (Luke 23:1-49), that long part about Jesus suffering and dying. But I didn’t. That wouldn’t avoid Jerusalem, it would just be a denial of Jerusalem. And one thing Jesus never did is deny Jerusalem. 

Before he came to Bethphage and Bethany, before he sent his disciples to get the donkey, before he took that path down the Mount of Olives, “he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51).

From that moment on there was no turning back for Jesus. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem,” he tells his disciples. (Luke 18:31)

What about you and me? How far are we willing to follow Jesus? How tightly are we holding on to our life as it is today? 

I wonder what we lose by not going to Jerusalem. I wonder what life we deny ourselves by clinging to or settling for the one we have. 

Dying To Live

If we are not dying to live, then maybe we’re just living to die. That’s not what I want for you or myself. That’s not what I want for the woman dealing with the Robb shooting or the man facing his ALS. 

There’s a reason we call this week holy. There’s a reason our tradition says that what happened in Jerusalem this week changes everything and transforms our lives. Each day this week we will discover the things that make for peace, what true power looks like, and the gifts Jerusalem offers.

So let me ask you this. What do you need to let go of today? What in you needs to die in order for you to live? What’s the Jerusalem awaiting you?

The promise of this Holy Week is that Jerusalem will give more than it takes. And it will take everything.

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Image Credit: Giotto, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.