Lent 3: A Holy Week

 Walking through this week is always a challenge.  We are asked to ponder some deep questions and consider some deeply troubling events.

In my recent trip to Israel, one of the most moving moments was in, what is now, the church of St. Peter in Gallicantu.  It is just outside the walls of old Jerusalem.  And it is believed that on this site was the house of Caiaphas, the high priest to whom Jesus was brought after being arrested.  In the lowest level of the building there is a pit, dug out of solid rock, which dates to the time of Jesus.  It seems likely that Jesus would have been held here.  While our group gathered in this small, dark space, I read the 88th Psalm  (…You have put me in the Pit, in the regions dark and deep…).

Outside of the church would have been the courtyard that Peter, at a distance, followed Jesus to, and in which he denied he knew him, not once, but three times. 

Right along side this building and courtyard is the ancient roadway up which Jesus would have been led after his arrest in Gethsemane.  (see left)

It is hard to be so close to where all these things took place without seeing them in a new and powerful way.   For three years Jesus taught of another way to live; a way that showed the transforming power of a humble, sacrificial love.  During this week we saw it lived out.   And we can’t help but hear the words “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for ones friends”.