Monday of Holy Week

Today is a day like any other on a week like every other.  Except it's not.  It is Monday of Holy Week.  On this week we find ourselves inching closer to the devastation of Friday, the waiting of Saturday, the new life of Easter.

If you are curious to know what Jesus did on the Monday before his death, read the Gospel of Mark chapter 11 verses 12-19.  You'll find that Jesus had a case of the Mondays....or more likely, Jesus simply had some issues with the workings of the world, which is precisely why he went through with the rest of the week. He was angry, fed up with business as usual.  He wanted his people to come face to face with their hypocrisy...that the religion they claim in the Temple was not the life they lived out on a daily basis.  Amy-Jill Levine, professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt University, puts it this way:  "The ancient Temple, and the present-day church, should be places where people not only find community, welcome the stranger, and repent of their sins. They should be places where people promise to live a godly life, and then keep their promises." 

What does it mean to live a godly life?  I think it has a lot to do with love, loving our God and loving each other.  I think it has something to do with how we treat one another and how we forgive (or not).  I think it is played out in our relationship to the created world around us and the creatures God gives to our care. I think a godly life looks like justice talking and justice living, especially alongside those who are marginalized.  I think a godly life, first and foremost, begins with prayer. 

It may sound simplistic and trite, but Jesus did storm the Temple quoting the prophet Isaiah that "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations."  For all the nations.

And so we begin....

Let us pray:

Help us to pray on a Monday.  When the air feels crisp and cool.  When the Earth pulls out highlighters to color on the trees bright pinks, purples, and yellows.  

 

Help us to pray on a Monday.  When life goes on as usual and we find ourselves lost in the list of what to do.

 

Help us to pray on a Monday.  When we pause for a split second to wonder, I wonder what Christ did his final Monday on Earth?

 

Help us to pray on a Monday.  The cheering crowds and songs of Hosanna still ringing in our ears; the palm branches green and barely touched, not even close to becoming ash.

 

Help us to pray on a Monday.  When the fig tree isn’t yet ripe and the praying people busy themselves with anything but prayer.  

 

What would he think if he found us today?  On a Monday.  The Monday before.  

 

O Lord, help us to pray.