Holy Week is already in full swing as we wake up this Monday morning! Yesterday began Jesus’ walk toward his death (and resurrection!) as he entered Jerusalem as king – and us with him, crying out Hosanna, waving our palm branches. But even before that, Holy Week had begun – on Saturday, it was the day we commemorate Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (and foreshadowing his own resurrection!). [Note: if you’d like to learn more about Lazarus Saturday, there is a whole section about it in Tara's Holy Week ebook, “Holy Week for the Rest of Us”, which you can download here: https://mailchi.mp/anamcara/holy-week-for-the-rest-of-us] Today continues the week of Jesus’ Passion. Known as “Fig Monday”, today we witness Jesus naming an unfruitful fig tree “cursed” - as a seeming indictment of the religious leadership’s failure to bear fruit and properly nourish the ones in their care (for more on this, and Fig Monday/Holy Week in general, check out the ebook!). A more obvious indictment comes as Jesus enters the temple and we see him forcibly revealing just what he and his father think of the business going on there. Jesus let us see his anger on Holy Monday. How do you feel about anger? Your own anger? When it’s coming from others? From God? How does it feel to see Jesus expressing his anger so tangibly in these two scenarios? Place yourself in one of these scenes and consider what you would have been thinking and feeling. What questions do you have for Jesus? What would you find yourself wanting to do in that situation? Do you share his anger at the injustice and misuse of resources? Do you join in? Or do you stay out of the way of that whip and witness from a safe distance (or run the other way completely)? How does this connect with your real-life experience of anger and injustice? How might God be inviting you to sit with (your own/God’s) anger, just a bit more, this Fig Monday?

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2021-03-29 13:30:23 UTC