“Stung pride, feeling betrayed, furious, Judas said how he felt. Jesus answered, opaquely as usual, about not being with them and funerals and all. But Judas was angry, and hearing is the first to go in anger. And in his anger and pain and resentment, Satan entered him and ate.”
“The confrontation, in driving out the money lenders, has made space for the blind and the lame to come to the temple. Jesus welcomes them and heals them.”
“I think this Lazarus Saturday I’m going to be standing in front of the tomb of dear friends, at least mentally. There are so many that I wish Jesus would come and tell to come forth, even for just a day. I miss them just as Mary and Martha had yearned for their brother Lazarus.”
“Even though Lent is drawing to a close, it may be weeks, months or years more before we fully can understand or appreciate our own new graftings, and the process of prayerful, reflective self-examination can lead us closer to God in this upcoming season of resurrection.”
“He will have to be dealt with, though, or he’ll be back. If his followers cannot be convinced he’s a charlatan, you will have to wait for a time when he is not protected by them. Doesn’t he go off alone sometimes to “pray”? Well, then, maybe you can recruit a spy and set a trap.”
If the world fell silent, yet these stones would shout, Glory: how the mighty crumble; Glory:their facades are fallen; Glory:when the Christ comes calling: Glory.
“It’s almost Holy Week, the time when we relive the story of Jesus’ last week on earth. The story that turns the world upside down. The story that walks through death to bring about life.”
“Our lives, our suffering, our blindness is endured by God to show his glory. In more modern terms, it is God’s abundant love for his creation, and that includes us, that can weep with Jesus, heal us though the Holy Spirit, wipe away every tear with the Father’s overwhelming balm of Love.”
“Ultimately, I have to wonder if what was really bugging Judas was not the cost, but the intimacy of death, and his own sense of fear and self-unease around what would play out in the days to come. We see soon enough how he manages his own avoidance of his own possible death, and how that doesn’t really work out for him in the end. The ease of which Mary can be both lavish and intimate scares him…and as we all do when we’re scared, we cover our own vulnerabilities first.”
“Everybody is familiar with scars of one form or another. There are different kinds, some of them grossly deforming, some very slight. All of them represent some event in the lives of those who bear them that was traumatic, painful, and debilitating, even if for a short time.”