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LISTEN

“When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’”—MATTHEW 26:1-2 (NIV)

Reflect
Jesus had said all the things he could to prepare his closest friends for the momentous events about to unfold. He was giving them all the information he could, but it was as if they couldn’t take it in. As he spoke, the disciples were living a splitscreen experience, in two timelines all at once: the now that was his real presence with them, and the unreality of the future when Jesus would be really gone. The disciples were living in a state of anticipatory grief. It’s a form of shock to be there in that kind of grief, because it carries so many unanswerable questions. How much is this going to hurt What will I do? Who will I be in the aftermath of what is coming toward us? And what will it all mean, considering that Jesus was supposed to be the answer to all our griefs, not the cause.

Respond
Holy Week compresses into just a few days all that human hearts can bear, and more. Are you able to let yourself begin
this slow movement through loss and hope with Jesus and his friends?

Blessing for Palm Sunday

Blessed are we, interrupted by eternity.
Our hearts are startled,
our hands unsure of what to hold,
our feet barely keeping pace.

Time slips from our grasp,
here is the rhythm of Palm Sunday:
One small donkey
carrying the weight of the world.

One with a face set like flint
moves not in the power of warhorses
but in the fragile, plodding toward
redemption.

Blessed are we,
who feel the smallness of our steps
toward a great mystery:
where through suffering, healing comes;
where through shame, dignity is restored;
where the cross disarms the powers
and death is undone forever.

Blessed are we
joining this procession:
In hospitals, homes, grocery stores,
the quiet champions of ordinary grace.
May you find your work enfolded
in the great, humble movement of love.

And blessed are we,
waving palm branches and shouting our
hoarse hosannas:
“Hosanna! Save us!
Save this tender, broken world.”41

41 Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. Adapted from “For Palm Sunday” in The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. (New York: Convergent Books, 2023). 202-203.

© KateBowler.com