Holy Week is always a very moving time of the year for Christians. It can’t really be anything else because, as we remember and commemorate the events of the last week of our Lord’s earthly life, they remind us of just how much Jesus suffered for our sake and the depth of the Father’s love for us. But this year, I think Holy Week will be especially poignant for us because of what we’ve all gone through during the past year.
As we go through Holy Week, we’re reminded of just how quickly life can change. Today, on Palm Sunday, we begin Holy Week by celebrating the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And it was triumphal. Crowds of people lined the streets and threw their cloaks and palm branches on the road in front of him, or walked ahead of him, heralding his arrival in the city, clearly and openly acclaiming him as the Messiah with shouts of,
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
But within a few days, all that had changed. By the end of that week, Jesus had been betrayed by one of his friends, arrested, beaten and abused, rejected by the very people he came to save, and put on trial for his life. The cheering crowds had gone and had been replaced by crowds baying for his blood, even his friends had deserted him. And finally, he was put to death, though he’d done nothing wrong at all. And I think that dramatic change in Jesus’ fortunes over the course of those few days will resonate very strongly with us this Holy Week because of the year we’ve just lived through.
Just over a year ago, we were busy preparing for Holy Week and looking forward to Easter 2020. But then, suddenly, everything changed. We couldn’t keep Holy Week or Easter in the way we always had in the past, and were expecting to again, because our churches were closed down. The freedom we take for granted was taken away and we went into lockdown. On 15th March last year, which was the last Sunday we were in church before the lockdown, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen what was about to happen nor, when it happened, that our lives would be restricted for as long as they have been.
As we’ve gone through the events of the past year, the lockdowns and tiers and all the other restrictions we’ve had to adhere to, people everywhere have been looking forward to things getting ‘back to normal’ so that we can get on with our lives again in the way we did, and took for granted, before we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic. But, although there is some light at the end of this particular tunnel now, for many of us, things will never go back to normal, at least in the sense of going back to the way they were pre pandemic.
People will have changed over the past year. So what they want to do, and are willing to do perhaps, maybe even what they’re able to do, will have changed. And so the lives of their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues will be changed too. Society will have changed and what was acceptable, everyday behaviour before the pandemic, might not be so acceptable and everyday, post pandemic. And, of course, many people have died during the past year, both of Covid-19 and many other causes too. And our lives will be permanently changed because they are no longer here with us. We may soon be able to go back to doing the things we did before the pandemic, going out for meals or to the pub, going to concerts and sporting events, coming to church without any restrictions on what we do when are in church, being able to go to work, assuming we still have work to go to, even something as simple as meeting our families and friends when we want to: we may well be able to do all those things again soon, but doing those things will not be that same as it was because some of the people we used to do those things with, are no longer here to see and share those things with us.
Things have changed since last March. People have changed. The world has changed. And things will never be the same again for many of us. But, in a way, that is the message of Holy Week and Easter. Holy Week tells us just how very quickly life can change; and change for the worse. But beyond Holy Week lies the greatest change of all. A change that turned the most terrible of defeats into the greatest of victories. A change that turned the most heart-breaking tragedy into the most joyous of blessings. A change that turned the deepest despair into the greatest hope ever given to human beings: Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that we’re in a constant state of change as we go through life. We know that some of the changes we have to go through are hard and unpleasant. Some of the changes that happen in the world, change our lives forever, and some of the changes that we go through in our lives, change our worlds forever. Covid-19 and the pandemic has been one of those changes.
But if the events of the past year have changed the world, and our worlds, forever, so did the events of the last week of Jesus earthly life. Holy Week tells us how quickly our lives and our worlds can be thrown into chaos and confusion. It tells us how quickly things can go wrong and how quickly things can change for the worse. But beyond Holy Week, Easter tells us how quickly bad things can turn around and become new, good, and even better, things. And amidst the changes of life, Holy Week and Easter reminds us of some things that never change: God’s love for us and Jesus’ presence with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Week and Easter tells us too, that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who lives forever. And if our world has been changed forever because we’ve lost loved ones during the past year, we have Jesus’ assurance that they’re not really lost to us forever, but merely hidden from our sight for a time because where he is, they are too. And it’s there where we will see them again when we too are called from this world to our place in the Father’s heavenly house.
That is the message and meaning of Holy Week and the hope and promise of Easter and they are very poignant and powerful at this time when so many people are looking for certainty amidst the confusion of life during this pandemic, and for meaning and hope in their lives.
Amen.
The Propers for Palm Sunday can be found here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 