Palm Sunday and Communion, a well-loved story
and a practiced sacrament came together to bring new spiritual awareness and a
deepening of my Christian compassion.
Our Palm Sunday service started with the
children circling the sanctuary waving brightly coloured scarves. They were emotionally preparing us to worship
with expectation the triumphant entrance of Jesus’ into Jerusalem.
I could imagine the people of Jerusalem acting
very much as our children were, hesitant at first to express their full measure
of joy and with each passing moment being more embolden until their joy could
not be contained. Our children all but
ran through the aisle at this point waving their scarves with youthful abandon.
Pastor Juanita Laverty then starts to take us
through the familiar stories of Palm Sunday and Christ’s Last Supper. This time however I heard the stories
differently and I learned of Christ’s compassion anew.
Juanita “bookended” (her words) Christ’s
compassion for all human beings in the Last Supper between his foreshadowing of
two betrayals.
The first found in Luke 22:21 “But here at this
table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For it has
been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one
who betrays him.” All Christians can
identify that Jesus is referring to the dastardly Judas Iscariot.
The second is found in Luke 22:34 “Peter, let me
tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny
three times that you even know me.”
And between foreshadowing these two betrayals by
his closest friends and companions Jesus offers up Luke 22:28-30 “You have
stayed with me in my time of trial. And just as my Father has granted me a
Kingdom, I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom.
And you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Jesus has offered equal portions of his
compassion to Judas and to Peter, both take part in this the first Communion
and it is only after this that Jesus calls out the men that will betray him.
As a Christian I have always placed Judas
outside of redemption and as such I have never identified with Judas betrayal,
yet at the same time I have taken comfort in the knowledge that Peter’s betray
was forgiven and as such I am forgiven when my faith is not strong enough to
stand up against fearful odds.
How different really are these two
betrayals? Both men acted out of fear,
frustration and grief as they came to realize that Jesus would not be the
earthly King, the Jewish saviour they were waiting for. In their betrayal of Jesus they were acting
out their humanity/ acting out of self-preservation.
Today I came into a deeper understanding of God’s
compassion as experienced through the love and preemptive forgiveness Jesus
offered both Judas and Peter, knowing of their betrayals he loved them all the same.
I am both Judas and Peter – I deny God’s plan
for me when my wants, expectations, fear, anger … my humanity gets in the way - I am loved by my Redeemer as the child of God that I
am.
Grandma Snyder
©2013-2015 twosnydergirls
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