The difference from this Sunday to Friday in the life of Jesus – is surprising. But in Bagdad and Basra, the difference between Wed. and Sat. is almost as stark. The same people who cheered the US soldiers, arriving with the promise and hope of freedom, now struggle with the dashed expectations in the experience of looting by their own people. How quickly expectation turns to disappointment. How quickly hero worship turns to bitter anger. All it takes is for the one whom we had wrongly placed the responsibility for our own decisions to say to us – no – that job is yours, that freedom is yours, that consequence is yours – and the hatred begins. And whether it is the movement from “Hail George Bush and the USA” to “USA, go Away” or the movement from “Hosanna in the Highest” to “Crucify him” – it is the same. We are held accountable for our freedoms. Not someone else. Us. As we enter this holy week – may it’s journey lead us to the same place it led Jesus – to a freedom surrendered in service and love to our God and to our brothers and sisters…
It is one of those ‘almost missed’ details in the passion account.
Mark tells us that when Jesus breathed his last: ‘The veil of the temple
was torn in two, from top to bottom.” This veil was a thick curtain that
separated the people from the holiest and most sacred portion of the temple.
Only the high priest had access to that, and even then, only once a year. So,
by tearing this veil, God makes a powerful statement. There is no longer any
separation between my people and me.
When Jesus dies, the veil – read sin, distance, alienation, all the things
which keep us from God – was torn from top [Heaven] to bottom [Earth].
The veil has been torn; the way has been opened. That which kept us from God – is
now sundered.
This week the liturgy invites us to remove the veil that keeps us from God.
It is the desire and movement of God to tear down the distance between us.
As we pray this past week – let that be the image before you – God
tearing down the veils, pushing through the sin, opening the stony heart, casting
aside whatever stands in the way between him and us. Image the Passion of God
to get to you. Image the desire of Jesus in his sacrifice for you to be joined
with him. For ‘the veil has been torn in two, from top to bottom’ and
the love is there, for us to know and live this holy, Holy Week…