Monday in Holy Week

These next few days, we will follow the most emotional week of Jesus’ life. For many Christians, it’s an emotional time as well. The final days of Jesus’ life on earth just seem to get harder and harder.

Imagine what must have been going on in Jesus’ mind as he came through those gates on Palm Sunday. The crowd shouted, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” yet Jesus knew that what was coming next would not be a blessing, not for him. 

It must have been so overwhelming.  

Jesus goes out to a garden to pray alone to his Father, God. And as he prays, he cries, his tears falling into the soil. “Please don’t let this happen,” he begs God. In response, an angel comes and comforts him. 

The hard truth was that Jesus could not avoid what was coming next. But he also would not be alone in it. God would be with him.

What comforts you when you are sad?

How can you keep Jesus company?

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Holy Trinity

This scene we’ve just seen actually reveals one of the most amazing truths about who Jesus is: one part of the Holy Trinity who is God. 

The ancient teachers of our faith have told us to think of God’s Holy Trinity as three people dancing together in a circle, their hands held tight. They go around and around and around in a never-ending dance of love. This dance of love is what we see in that scene in the garden. Jesus cries out to his Father God, and God sends a messenger of comfort (his Spirit is often called “the Comforter”). 

So in the garden, we actually see the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit – drawn together in one moment of deep love. This love is the deepest truth about God. And it is always true.

People who pray know something about what this dance of love feels like. Our sorrow can heal into something easier, simply by praying about it. Even when the things we are crying about do not change, somehow we change enough to handle them.

We are changed because when we pray, we are drawn into the Holy Trinity. We join in their never-ending dance.

How does it feel when you pray?

Share your tears, your fears, with God the Trinity.