Going Up to Jerusalem

While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised."

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:17-28 

Going Up to Jerusalem

 Someday are harder than others

what is ahead is mixed with hope and fear

welcome and conflict all mixed together

anxiety and prayers for understanding.

Some resolve the transition misery

with planning and plotting positions

some go silent and into themselves

while other sing to cover their fears.

What we face we never face alone

our traumas are share and well known

the hear of God stands with us in the breach

we are terrified and yet firm in our faith.

They will lay palm branches down

singing his praises and dancing with joy

within a few days they will all turn

and scream crucify, crucify, crucify.

And yet there is more to the story

dying we are raised again to life

entering the terrifying  danger zones 

we are made safe within the hands of God.