This Lent we follow Jesus as he faces evil in the hours before his death. What is evil? Who is doing evil against Jesus during Passion Week? What are ways in which we are complicit in evil? Do we take evil seriously? As we experience evil in our own lives, discover how Jesus stands in the face of evil.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, stay with me. There is evil within me, and I am so often attentive to it. I am easily overcome by my own desire to get away from you and be free to have everything I want and to do everything I want. Lord, give me the real freedom of your life in me. By your victory over temptation, make me victorious. By the power of your love make me strong. Amen. (from The Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH, 1970)
Word
Luke 23:28
“Jesus said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.’
Meditation: Bright Sadness by Megan Roegner
My family has had too many reasons to mourn lately.
In February my close friend died, suddenly and unexpectedly. For more than twenty years, she saw only the best in me. She was one of my daughter’s godmothers. She was persistent in telling me that she loved me and my family.
In March, a young man from my children’s school, a former classmate of my son’s, fell to his death from an amusement park ride in Orlando. He was in eighth grade and beloved by the school community.
What can I say to my children to make sense of these tragedies? What can I say to myself? Our culture has a toxic positivity problem, and this is true of the church as well. Grief is sometimes met with reminders that Jesus loves us, that God has a plan, that we have eternal life to look forward to.
All of these things are true, but they don’t undo the pain of the present moment.
Even on the way to the cross, Jesus knows how the story ends. He knows that the agony of his crucifixion will resolve in the triumph of his resurrection. He knows that he will ascend and sit at the right hand of the Father.
And he is there. But we’re still here.
Still in a fallen world where institutions, loved ones, and even our own bodies fail us. Where we fail others.
Jesus says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
If we are not distraught by the tragedies, outraged at the injustices of this world, are we paying attention? Are we truly feeling the weight of evil and our need for a Savior?
Sometimes we need to weep.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Usually, when I meditate on this verse, I focus on the relief of the coming joy. I do not often ponder the necessity of the weeping.
Our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters refer to Lent as the season of “bright sadness,” which the priest Alexander Schmemann describes as “the sadness of my exile, of the waste I have made of my life; the brightness of God’s presence and forgiveness, the joy of the recovered desire for God, the peace of the recovered home.” I am struck that the joy of our salvation is deepened by the reflection upon what Schmemann identifies as “exile” and “waste.” As well, the objects of joy are a “recovered desire for God” and “the peace of a recovered home.”
The joy we feel each Easter morning, or the joy that catches us unexpectedly, once again, after a season of grief is not in spite of our sadness but rather because of it.
So weep for yourselves, and try to wait with hope for the joy of the morning.
Dear Jesus, thank you for being with us in our sadness. When we face difficult times, give us both the strength to endure and faith that we will feel joy again. Help us as well to be a comfort to those who are mourning, to show them a glimpse of your compassionate love. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.