We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  2 Corinthians 4:10

Palm Sunday has arrived. I’ve made it this far through Lent, but I don’t want to live through readings of the biblical accounts of the trial, the crowd chanting “Crucify!” yet again, and the horrible walk to the cross and Jesus’ death. This week is too hard. This year I’d like to just skip the stories of betrayal and pain and go straight to Easter.  But it doesn’t work that way. What a naturalist in Alaska once told me helps me to see why. It seems that birds, wind, and water throw seeds and nutrients onto barren glacial rock. If the rock has even small openings, it holds on to what’s tossed there and begins to sustain new life. Small life comes first, then medium-sized life, and finally trees. But if trees come too early, they lack what is needed for survival and die.

My experience of Holy Week resembles the way the rock receives new life. Maybe we have to open ourselves to absorb what Holy Week has to teach us. Then those small beginnings grow into deeper understandings as the events of the week unfold. If we were to go straight from Palm Sunday to Easter, maybe we wouldn’t become the soil that sustains new life. I wish there were a shortcut to Easter, but there isn’t. So let the stories be told again this year, and may we be open to the growth they can bring.

God of the journey, help us to absorb the nourishment of challenging and difficult times so we may continue to grow in you. Amen.