April 16thFinding Jesus in our Passion Time
- by Carol Penner
It’s the middle of Passion Week. The disciples at that time didn’t know that Jesus was about to die.
The disciples had come back to Jerusalem with Jesus, which was a risky move because of threats by the religious authorities. But Jerusalem gave Jesus a hero’s welcome and by the middle of the week nothing untoward had happened. For all we know, the disciples may have sat around predicting where Jesus would take them next…north, south, east?
The disciples went to celebrate Passover, where Jesus spoke very frankly about betrayal. But they weren’t worried enough to stay awake with Jesus when he went to pray.
It had taken the disciples a while to realize the power of God in Jesus Christ. But they witnessed with their own eyes his ability to give sight to the blind, feed the hungry and even raise people from the dead. He’d been having conflicts with religious authorities the whole time he knew them, and he always handled it.
Even with Jesus’ warnings about his own death, I think his arrest and crucifixion hit the disciples like an earthquake. Everything solid shaken to its foundation.
What happened to Jesus on his last day was unthinkable. For most of the disciples it was unwatchable. But Mary, Jesus’ mother, a few of his women followers, and John groped their way to Jesus’ side on that horrible Friday.
We are following Jesus too this week of April 2025. Maybe you, like me, feel the ground metaphorically shaking around us. As I read the news, I’ve even had to start using the word ‘unprecedented’ again (after its overuse in the pandemic). The cruelty and mayhem in the government to our south seems to know no bounds. I work with someone who survived the bombing of Mariupol; she saw her beloved country of Ukraine assaulted by a neighbouring superpower. The reverberations are terrifying.
That’s just one of the tremors today. You can pick your world crisis, each in its own particularity is bone chilling. We are shaken.
In our own passion months and years, in these unsteady times, there are things that feel unwatchable. But where are we called to be? Can we join together in going to the places we’re needed…at the foot of the cross with Jesus?
- Carol Penner is Director of Theological Studies at Conrad Grebel University College. She worships with The First Mennonite Church in Vineland.
[The artwork accompanying this devotional is by Liz Wenger, an artist from Goshen, Indiana. There is an exhibit of her work currently on display at the Grebel Gallery. The artwork grapples with faith, joy, hope, disability and abuse. Consider bringing a group from your church to tour the exhibit! I would be happy to provide a tour and tell you about the remarkable faith journey of Liz Wenger. I curated the exhibit together with Sadie Ingle, a Master of Theological Studies student. You can reach me at C2penner@uwaterloo.ca]