Jeff's Journal

Holy Week is upon us.

We walk that last week with Jesus into Jerusalem

   and feel the raw emotion of elation which soon

   turns to the absence of all those who were

   cheering from the edges of the road.

Have you ever turned to face your destiny,

   made a decision which would change

   the rest of your life?

Jesus does and we remember on Palm Sunday,

   waving palms to mimic his return to the

   Holy City of David.

 

Jesus was accused of insurrection,

   but he stood in silence before his accuser.

Have you ever been falsely accused

   attacked for who you are?

Jesus did what seemed unnatural

   and did not defend himself.

 

Then there was the suffering.

   The crowd turned against him.

   The soldiers whipped him.

   He was crucified with nails

      and on a cross he died.

While he hung there,

   he forgave his tormentors,

   promised a thief hanging next to him

   that he would go to heaven and

   he arranged good care for his mother.

 

Surely this man, who could

   redeem impossible situations

   of humiliation and defeat,

   into moments of salvation and hope,

      can do that for you and me.

 

Moving to the deeper places,

Jeff