“When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve disciples, and while they were eating he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’” Matthew 26:20

Holy week has many dimensions, beginning with Jesus’s dramatic entry into Jerusalem, with its celebration of  hopes and dreams raised high. So many different thoughts about what it meant for Jesus, to be that “Blessed One,” the One who  “Came in the name of the lord.”

Traveling through the week has his twists and turns. One moment, it looks like Jesus might be crowned a king. He throws religious money traffickers out of the temple, declaring it,  “A place of prayer for all nations.” Mark 11:17.   In the temple, Jesus teaches and  shares confusing parables, that will only later makes sense.  A woman will anoint his head with costly perfume.

Sharing the Passover with his closest friends, Jesus tries to prepare them for a future without him. Teaching them, like the prophets before him,  he demonstrates a way of love and service, by washing their feet.

Quickly the scene changes.  Singing the Passover Hymn, they continue to the Mount of Olives. There Jesus is met with sleeping disciples, a kiss of betrayal and sudden arrest. A horrific trial follows. Disciples scatter, with only a handful of women left to meet Jesus at the cross.

Sometimes our lives feel like that. The friends we thought we had disappear, when the crushing defeat hits us. Or they simply do not know what to say, or how to reach out to us. Afraid they will say the wrong thing, they say nothing at all. Afraid they might be intruding, they avoid us.

The story of holy week stands as a reminder to trust God,  when we go through difficult trials. Our friends may well desert us. People we thought would be there to support us, may disappear.

But God never stops loving us . . . Never stops caring . . . Never leaves us to suffer alone.

Our glimpses may be few, or entirely absent in our personal trials, when our future appears to hold no promise. But do not give up hope. There is a Resurrection coming.

The journey through Holy Week reminds us that at our very bleakest moment, God is still at work in our world. God is mending, healing, and restoring. God is present in all of our Holy Week journey. God is present in our moments of disruption and distress, heartache and sorrow.

On the other side of Holy Weeks is a resurrection. A time of seeing God’s redeeming work in our world and in and in our lives.


Other Devotions for Ash Wednesday through Easter came be found here.