Day Thirty-five

Just exactly what happened yesterday? Was it some sort of pep rally to send Jesus off to the cross? What exactly am I supposed to be doing this week to prepare for Easter? Buying a new suit? Making reservations for a champagne brunch? Mapping out where I’ll hide the eggs? I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the whole Lent thing to begin with, but now I’m getting the impression that I’m somehow supposed to be “changing gears” during this final week. There’s no doubt that we’re headed for the big day—for the Super Bowl of Christianity—but it is a seeming paradox to have entered into a process that’s now supposed to culminate in an event.

Experience and reason are going to be hard pressed to hold their own against tradition and scripture in the coming week. As irreverent as it is, I still have to chuckle at the joke about the child who told his Sunday school teacher that Easter is the day that Jesus comes out of his cave and if he sees his shadow it means there will be six more weeks of winter. Whatever progress has been made in the preceding days toward a possibly new and more meaningful understanding of what Easter is about seems very vulnerable to backsliding into childish (not to be mistaken with childlike) interpretations that must be accepted with blind faith because they are so irrational as to defy an enlightened worldview.

Just as Jesus apparently “connected” with the Other during his wilderness experience in such a way that he was able to move past the temptations that are common to us all, I must hope that I’ve come closer to making a connection of my own that is going to help me not lose sight of where I’ve been and where I’m going. As ironic as it sounds, religion has an inherently powerful ability to interfere with—or to break altogether—the relationship we are intended to have with our Creator. Jesus’ prescription for a strict and absolute way of restoring and enhancing this relationship is intriguingly absent from the gospel texts. One needs look no further, however, than the tradition established by the Church to find such dogma. It’s sad to say, but a church may not be the best place for me to spend the next seven days.