LENTEN INSPIRATIONS: Hump day in Holy Week

It’s hump day! I’m sure that all of you know what hump day is. It’s the middle of the week, the day when the events of the week shift away from its beginning and toward its end. Today is hump day in the week that Christians refer to as holy: Holy Week, Passion Week, the last week of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. As the events of this week go, today is a silent day. The Gospels don’t record anything happening on this day; however, it’s far from being insignificant.

A shift takes place on Holy Wednesday. All of the excitement and anticipation of Palm Sunday begin to give way to the realities of the Roman occupation of Judea and Galilee. Just by being who he is, Jesus, the itinerant rabbi from Galilee, manages to disappoint and worry nearly everyone, including his immediate circle of 12 followers.

At least one of them, Judas (not Iscariot), is a Zealot who expects Jesus to lead a war against the Romans. All of them expect Jesus to be the next king of Israel. In fact, they believe that his coronation will take place in Jerusalem. Judas Iscariot worries that Jesus will bring the wrath of the Roman army down upon him and all of the Jews who live in Judea and Galilee.

Add the Sanhedrin to this mix. It’s the ruling Council in the Jerusalem Temple. The High Priest Caiaphas shares the same fear of Roman reprisals that Iscariot holds. To him, Jesus appears to be more than an apostate; he’s a loose cannon who could bring destruction and death to the whole nation.

Don’t forget Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator of Judea. He has been tasked by Rome with procuring and maintaining the peace in this far-flung province of the Empire. He must decide whether or not Jesus poses any kind of a threat to Rome’s interests in the region.

Last, but certainly not least, is the general population of people who are looking forward to a better life. It is a life which they believe that Jesus can deliver to them.

Fear, personal pique, self-preservation, disappointment: a multitude of motivations finally tips the scales. Opinions coalesce and harden about Jesus. He has done more than disappoint. Now he is a threat. It’s time to remove him from the picture. That will happen in the next 72 hours with his arrest, torture, trial and crucifixion.

History is replete with significant dates. In my life, however, none is more significant than the first Holy Hump Day. It marks a seismic shift in the fortunes and the future of my life, and, I believe, in the life of the world.

God has made this world and everyone in it for good. That includes me, but it also includes Judas Iscariot, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate. Truth to be told, I struggle with the knowledge that Iscariot, Caiaphas, and Pilate share the same boat with me. I’d rather vilify than embrace them, blame rather than accept them as beneficiaries of God’s grace. They are, after all, among the key architects of Jesus’ crucifixion.

But then, if truth is to be told one more time, faced with the same looming, bloody consequences, would I act any differently than they do?

A silent piece of good news reverberates in our lives on this Wednesday in Holy Week. Ever since that first Holy Hump Day, you and I are over the hump. We are on the downhill run, and I mean that phrase to be taken in the best of its sense.

God’s plan for us and the world is a plan for goodness, and it is marching toward its fulfillment. That fulfillment might take a thousand more years or a thousand more millennia. It doesn’t matter, because it’s just a matter of time before God gets what God wants. And God always gets what God wants.

Steve Hall has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ for 43 years. He spent 37 of those years serving St. Peter’s and Lockport United Churches of Christ in Lockport. During that time, he sat on numerous community boards of directors (including serving as the chair of this year’s Lockport Lenten Luncheon Committee); led various ecumenical projects, including 35 years of CROP Walks for world hunger and 27 years as the organizer of the Good Friday Cross Walks; and served on boards and committees at the conference and national levels of the United Church of Christ. Steve retired from active ministry in September of 2018, after serving Lockport United Church of Christ for 18 years. He and his wife Emily continue to reside in Lockport where, on clear nights, he enjoys a bit of backyard astronomy with his telescope.

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LENTEN INSPIRATIONS is a weekly series of reflections on the holy season of Lent. The authors were signed up to be the guest speakers for this year’s non-denominational Community Lenten Luncheon series in Lockport, which was canceled due to lingering concerns about Covid.