With friends like this who needs enemies?

It seems the most common fear of little children is of the dark: “Mommy, leave the light on.” We fear the dark because we know there may be something or someone hiding under our bed or surely in the closet. If you had older brothers or sisters they may have teased you mercilessly as they tried to convince you that the boogie man or some sort of monstrous being lurked under your bed with steely red eyes and heavy breath ready for you to pull the covers over yourself. If you were the one who teased, well get ready for a little more time in Purgatory! I grew up with three brothers so use your imagination. Dark corners, closed doors, shadows and unfamiliar sounds are all too creepy.

As we ready for our annual walk into the holiest week of the year, and next Friday being a day unlike any other called “Good,” we hear the prophet Jeremiah 20: 10-13, in today's reading: “Terror on every side!” Sounds to me like the cry of a child who just awoke from a nightmare. Truth is, Jeremiah had every reason to be concerned. It was not his imagination that played tricks on him: “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. . .” (vs 11). Jeremiah’s life is truly in danger. Sounds familiar? No prophet reveals his emotions more than Jeremiah – a true foreshadow of Christ himself. “My friends have betrayed me,” we hear the prophet decry. Judas, and the other Apostles, save the young John, fled in fear and abandoned Our Lord at his darkest hour. So, the stage is set for our great drama as we recall the passion, suffering, and death of Christ.

Now, I have met people here and there who said it has become an annual Holy Week ritual of theirs to watch the heart wrenching, painful, and graphic movie that was all the rage about six years ago, The Passion of the Christ. I recall all too vividly watching that film and being moved to tears at the depiction of Mary who clearly suffered her own passion along with her son. The rest of it -- the bloody scourging, the graphic crucifixion, etec. did not move me to tears but rather I sat there in shock, squirmed in my seat and turned my face away occasionally, saying to friends equally in shock next to me, “Is it over yet?” It was a passion to watch HIS passion. If that was the intent of Mel Gibson, well it worked with me. That was no popcorn and candy event!

Today’s Gospel reading from John 10: 31 -42 has Jesus in the final “court room” scene before his accusers, some of the Jewish religious leaders, who are itching to condemn him. And, Jesus knew well that he was on the verge of his passion. The issue became, for them: “You who are only a man are making yourself equal to God!” Blasphemy – let the rocks fly! Well, on a purely human level, they are right. Jesus did make himself equal to God: “I said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” But, he spoke of a spiritual reality, a truth they did not compehend – that God would take on our human nature. So Jesus, in their limited view, indeed committed blasphemy. Only through the power of the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, was the Church born and moved to embrace this new vision of life and hope.

As we open the door to Holy Week, to what depth is your faith in Jesus the Christ? As we prepare to hear the passion read on Sunday and Good Friday, where do I find myself in the crowd? What do I say, think, or feel? I waver back and forth not so much in doubt of Jesus’ testimony but rather in the design of my life, my behavior, and my choices. As priest, I find myself often raising the bar of expectations on others to a level higher than I am willing to go myself. I think if we are brutally honest, there is a little of the Pharisee in all of us. We think we know the answer, we feel we have it all together but in the end the total impact of God’s action on behalf of humanity is yet to touch our inner spirit. If it fully did, we would all be St. Francis of Assisi or Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. They embraced the fullest meaning of a disciple of Jesus. It has often been said that of all the saints of the Church, Francis of Assisi was perhaps the most like Jesus. Quite a statement when you think about it.

So, let’s get our hearts, minds, and thoughts around this week before us. Although we know how the story ends, for the sake of experience, imagine you don’t as we enter this most sacred week of the year. Imagine you are with the disciples, or in the crowd of bystanders, or sit at the table of the Last Supper, or on watch at night in the Garden of Gethsemane. I may find myself filled with utter awe and wonder on Easter Sunday.