Our Lenten journey approaches its closure as we enter Jerusalem. Today Jerusalem finds herself with a very controversial man. There is something about Jesus that creates this. He makes people take sides, and even change sides; from praise to insults, from "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," to "Crucify him!" There is something about Jesus that makes people confront their deepest selves.
This week we could ask ourselves some penetrating questions for meditation. How does it feel to be a disciple of Jesus in Jerusalem? To walk side by side with Jesus as he is proclaimed liberator? As they are laying palms on the ground in front of you because you are with him? To be a confidant of Jesus at the Last Supper? And here's the big one: To identify with and profess as master a man arrested, mocked, beaten, and put to death?
There is no right or wrong answer. Feeling confidence does not mean one is spiritually healthy. Remember Peter's confidence, only to deny Jesus that same night. Sometimes confidence means we haven't taken the issue seriously.
And being ambivalent doesn't necessarily mean being in a bad spiritual space. It could signify the grace of confronting the cost of discipleship. We may find that our responses to these questions change daily. But we should stay with it.
Meditation: Stay with Jesus now. Keep this provocative man near to your heart, and give him the space to speak to you about the cost of discipleship.
