Lead Us…
As our Lord’s Prayer Lenten study draws to a conclusion next week, the participants in the class continue to comment on how meaningful this study has been. Each week, we’ve taken a phrase of this foundational part of our faith and opened it up to glean deeper understanding. I am a strong believer in the importance of life-long learning, and as much as I’ve studied this prayer, I’m still learning new things. In this week’s session, we considered the phrase “Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Adam Hamilton, the author of the study, is suggesting that the intent of this phrase is not about imploring God to change God’s mind about tempting us. Which raises all kinds of questions and concerns about whether or not this is something that God does (spoiler alert: I don’t believe that God does this). Instead, Jesus is encouraging us to open our self, more generally, to where God can lead us in our life and faith. What we are praying for is that God would lead us on the path aligning with God’s purpose in the world.
The Work of the People
After weeks of study and self-reflection, the season of Lent is moving into its final act for the year. Palm Sunday ushers us into the final week of Jesus life. The conflict with religious and Roman authorities has come to a head. The Passover is celebrated and recast with the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is betrayed, arrested, tortured, and crucified. In just a few days we see a wild swing of emotions and experience. It all begins with the ‘triumphal’ entry that we know as Palm Sunday. The ways that we tell the story focus on Jesus’ actions and the prophetic image he fulfills. For witnesses to this event, the stoking of messianic expectations would be at its height. It is rare that we look to closely at the crowds on that day, but they play an important role. The crowd on that morning was made up largely of people who had been following Jesus. They stayed on the path with him because they believed in him. It isn’t simply the fact that they are celebrants. Because of what they are celebrated, they would have put themselves at great personal risk. To celebrate a person who represented a rival to the Priests and to Rome, they were committing sedition. And yet, they did it anyway.
Committed to the Path
Staying on the path of discipleship continues to grow our awareness of and experience with God. This brings healing, strength, and transformation in our life. Walking this path, however, is not something we do casually or haphazardly. Everything about the Gospel witness demonstrates the importance of intentionality. We are invited to choose to follow the way of Jesus. In making that choice, we move away from self-centered choices. We commit ourselves to embracing and sharing the self-giving love of Christ. We choose to build the beloved, radically inclusive community that Jesus inaugurates instead of the tribalism we see in the world today. Do use the imagery of the Palm Sunday text, do we choose to acclaim Jesus as Christ, in spite of the opposition we hear from the strident voices around us. As we move from Palm Sunday into Holy Week, I encourage you to participate in the worship experiences of the week. Each one becomes a window into a deeper understanding of not only the events of Jesus’ life, but of what it means for us to walk the way of all Christ-followers. We walk this path, grow, and learn together, just as it has always been.
