Jesus always showed the other side of the question, and turned hard held values on their head. Paradoxically, with Jesus, it wasn’t a case of what you see, is what you get, more a case of, ‘do you get what you see’?
Is it surprising though that we don’t always get what Jesus means? The disciples were with him constantly for three years and they by no means got the meaning of what he said and did half the time. Against their advice, despite their protests, Jesus set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem.
Peter was most vehement that he should not go – he knew the dangers from the Jewish authorities, that they had been breathing fire and making threats against Jesus’ life for some time, so he pleaded with Jesus – ‘don’t go, Lord’. He didn’t get it, that this was Jesus’ destiny, that the face of Jesus was set, set like a flint. Whatever lay before him, he had to go. And as they enter Jerusalem, they could be forgiven that they had got it wrong, rather than walking into the snares of the Pharisees, the crowds go wild with welcome; – for a while.
Holy Week, in its entirety, from Palm Sunday, to Easter Sunday, asks us the question, in its roller-coaster ride, ‘do you get what you see?’. This week, is a really big week in the Christian calendar, and to my mind, the most important of all. It’s an opportunity to catch new glimpses of Jesus as we follow his journey to the cross, the tomb and the resurrection. If we follow carefully, watch intently, we might just ‘get it’. We might just get the paradox of the Christ figure, human, yet divine.
If you are not able to attend a service, or a group through the week that will focus on the final week in Jesus’ earthly life, then I invite you to discipline yourself to read a portion of Christ’s passion from the Gospels each day this week. It’s amazing stuff!
But if the paradox of Jesus is lost on you, don’t worry. As we cry, ‘Hosanna’, remember that it means, ‘Save us’, and amazingly, he will.
We are never lost on him.
Amen