Pivoting in Holy Week

As I think about the stark shift in Holy Week from a happy parade with palms and joyous shouts to betrayal and the horror of Good Friday, I think about the pivot we need to personally make. Because some of us are dealing with Covid-19 by trying to keep sharing words of hope and joy when under the surface we are hiding the fear and anxiety we’re experiencing. Especially those who are leaders can feel the pressure to put a happy face on.

Holy Week can help us to confront and own up to how we’re really doing. It opens the door to lament, something so important that it’s given a whole book in the Bible. As we lament we process our deepest and perhaps ugliest emotions and parts of our humanity. The Passion narrative is full of anger, jealousy, greed, shame, regret, self-centredness and self-protection, things we see around and within us in the midst of this pandemic. We are similarly looking for a quick fix to our problems, scapegoats for the ills of society, a Messiah to provide a cure that won’t threaten our economic portfolios or human systems.

We really do have a lot in common right now with the disciples, the crowd, the authorities and powers in place in Jesus’ time. And like them we have much we may want to run from or to deny. It’s an uncomfortable time. Things that we thought we could rely on aren’t saving us. Things that we thought were going to happen won’t and perhaps never will. We once again must acknowledge our need for Jesus in the midst of turmoil, to be honest about how we’re really doing, and to go to that dark place of not having control but admitting to our guilt and complicity, our fear and anger.

And then from that place, we see a Saviour who knew how stained we were as human beings who still thought we were worth saving. We weren’t given what we expected, but a gift greater than probably anything we could have come up with on our own. The Lamb of God took away the sin of the world.

I think we need to, as leaders, model this pivot and another one. The longer this goes on, the more tempting it is for us to either become self-focused and narcissistic as we self-isolate or to become complacent, assuming we’re going to be alright. Instead, I was reminded when I made a phone call today that the homeless are the most precarious population and with the least protection and resources. Those who serve them are also at risk. A post I read on facebook gives a stark reminder that we in the west have enormous privilege that those in third world countries could only dream of as they fight this pandemic.

Jesus died for all of us - for the poor, the outcast, the discriminated against and the sick as well as the rich, the powerful, the privileged and the healthy. He asked God from the cross to forgive those gathered because they didn’t know what they were doing. Our pivot should reflect these realities. Our response to what is happening should take into account the choices and leading of our Lord. Perhaps because of us we can show that grace to the world, to the least and lost and all those who need our compassion and help.

Easter is coming, but just not yet. Don’t rush this in between time, this dark time which forces us to consider our role in the story evolving around us. May our lament bring us clarity, release and healing. May our waiting on the hillside restore our perspective. May our vigil outside the tomb remind us of the God who risked it all for us.