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9th April 2017 – Holy Week

9th April 2017 – Holy Week
April 7, 2017 Judith Simms

Jesus, I imagine your hand

caressing the little donkey’s head.

An unbroken animal, soon to face a burden and great noise,

yet steadily carrying you to the gates of Jerusalem.

 

My thought travels to your burden,

just a few days later:

the weight of the cross

carried amongst the weeping and the jeering crowds.

And so the thought flashes into my mind –

no gentle hand to caress you,

until

I remember the woman who held out a cloth.

But you told her to weep for herself and all women,

not you.

 

Looking back there was

Palm Sunday and

singing, rejoicing,

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The days follow swiftly, too swiftly

and we are caught in the sober cruelty

of the first

Good Friday.

 

How can we pray?

How can we even seek forgiveness

for the betrayal we make

unwittingly when we abandon you?

 

We watch you washing feet

and long to feel your touch on ours,

washing us clean.

 

We watch you sharing that last meal

and somehow, in this week,

of all weeks,

we sense the reality,

the wholeness of the offering.

 

We watch the disciples in Gethsemane

and strive to keep awake ourselves

we feel for them, not knowing exactly

what would come to pass

 

We do

 

Jesus, in our hearts we know

that each of us would have been

afraid.

For once we are at one with your close friends,

understanding their human frailty,

but wishing someone

would have gently caressed your head

before you were led out,

beyond the gate,

outside the wall

to Calvary.

 

Reading:   John 12:12-19; 13:1-20

STF 266    All the room was hushed and still

 

Prayers for April by Hazel Parsons