Where is the Passion in Holy Week?

     I've been thinking about Holy Week -- both what WE do during Holy Week (or not) and what happened to those who followed Jesus during that original Holy Week almost 2000 years ago.   We move from palms to lilies with sometimes a short stop for prayer & sorrow.   Jesus and the disciples moved from moments of great joy and celebration (as they entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday) to moments of anger (cleansing the temple on Tuesday) to sharing table fellowship and singing together (on Thursday) before the devastating events of Thursday night and Friday as Jesus was arrested and quickly killed on the cross.
     It helps me sometimes, to stop and think about how our journey through Holy Week gives us a chance to stop and think about the incredible range of events and emotions that filled that week for Jesus and the disciples.
    Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday -- they took the step to enter Jerusalem even thougth they knew that there were those who planned Jesus' death.  While they entered with mixed feelings the crowds saw only joy and hope as they greeted Jesus by shouting "Save Us" ('hosanna").
   Tuesday -- Jesus could not take the hypocrisy he saw in the temple and tore things apart in his anger.
   Thursday -- Jesus and the disciples wanted to have a family meal -- probably the Passover, a special religious feast.   During the meal Jesus took the usual prayers of thanksgiving and added a personal meaning to them -- telling the disciples to remember.   After dinner they sang together for a bit and then went out into the warm night to pray in a garden.  While there the soldiers swept in -- arresting Jesus -- and swept him away to be judged, leaving his disciples frightened and bewildered.
   Friday -- the Romans put Jesus on a cross and he hung there until dead.  After he died his friends gathered up his body and placed it in a tomb but could not lay it out properly because the religious holy day had started.
     Saturday -- his disciples hid in a room in Jerusalem while Jesus' body lay, still unprepared for burial in a tomb nearby.
     I hope that this year during Holy Week I will remember -- and remember to give thanks.