Today is Monday of Holy Week. I chose the passage that tells of what came after the Palm Sunday parade. The first verse of this passage says that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Such was His love for this special city and for what it had been and what it had become. No longer was it truly a religious center, it was now more a commercial center and a financial center. Jesus knew that what lay ahead for this week depended on the people getting their priorities right with God. Jerusalem as a city would never be like it was during the time of David or Solomon. But things could be special for those who came to know of God's love for them. And as had been His custom since His first visit, Jesus went straight to the Temple. Jesus had seen this place change from His childhood, for He had been 12 on His first visit, to what it was now on his 30th year of life. And as we read, He was none too happy with the result; as this version reads, this was not so much a center of prayer and spiritual growth as it was a flea market. "Anything and everything was on sale." His words tell the story, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of thieves." Jesus drove out the money-changers and those who were selling everything, and wanted the place restored to what its purpose was, a place to connect with God. The rest of the passage says that Jesus spent the rest of that week teaching in the temple. While He taught about God's love and God's desire to be in relationship with the people, the religious people of the temple sought a way to kill Him. Jesus was making an impact on the people listening; the religious leaders feared to make a move with that sort of response to Jesus.
This week will pass quickly. Some churches has things planned for all week. Some will wait until Thursday to have a special Holy Communion remembrance of that special Maundy Thursday. Some will have a Good Friday service, and many will have Easter Egg events sometime this week. The question is how this week will impact you and your relationship with God. Everything about this week has your name on it. (And mine as well). Everything that Jesus said and did was done especially for you. How will you respond? Yesterday, we sat in the Easter cantata of First UMC in McAllen as we visited with our grandkids and their parents, and when they got to "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" I wept. Yes, I thought, I was there. Not in the best role that I could think of, but I was there. I was the one whose sins nailed Him to the cross. I was the one whose sins broke His heart. I was the one who should have been nailed to that tree. I was the one Jesus loved enough to do all that for.
Be there. And let Jesus be with you. In the special places of your heart and life.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for the meaningful and powerful things of this Holy Week. Speak to my heart with each act and observance, so that I can truly "be there" for You now and always. This I ask in Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
PS Prayers for The Rev. Scott Herren, who is undergoing hip replacement surgery this morning there in Corpus Christi. He should be out by noon and I had a chance to pray with him and visit with Melissa and with Fred, one of Odem's lay members. Pray for a victory in that surgery.
