Holy Week 2012: Looking Down the Road

(Note:  This coming week, the regular posts will be suspended, and I will write a daily meditation based on the Gospel lesson for each day in Holy Week.  Regular posts will resume on Monday, April 9th)

Reading for Palm Sunday:  John 12:12-16

This year’s gospel lessons take us on a journey through the Gospel of John.  Today’s reading is John’s version of the triumphal entry.

When I was in seminary, Dr. Robert Coleman told us about a twin brother and sister.  The sister came down with a disease that required the removal of one of her kidneys.  A donor search was undertaken, and it turned out that her brother was the match.  The doctors called in the family to describe what needed to happen, and the little guy was asked if he would give his sister a kidney.  He was silent for a while, but responded, “Yes, I will.”

Plans moved ahead, and on the day of the surgery, everyone showed up at the hospital.  As the pre-operation preparations drew to a close, the siblings were being rolled into the operating room.  The brother turned to his mom and asked, “Is this when I die?”  It was only then that everyone understood the little boy’s silence in the doctor’s office weeks before, and only then that they realized fully what his “yes” meant.

As Jesus began his journey into Jerusalem, there is a sense in which he turned to the Father and asked, “Is this when I die?”  But unlike the mother, who was able to assure her little boy that he would not die, the Father had to say, in effect, “Yes, Son—this is the time.”

And in that moment, he looked down the road—and punched his heels into the donkey’s side.