Lam. 1:17-22; 2 Cor. 1:8-22; Mark 11:27-33

The Tuesday of Holy Week brings with it stories that foreshadow the end of the story.

Jesus’ authority is questioned by the chief priests, scribes, and the elders today.  In the course of a few short days, Jesus has irritated every major political group in Jerusalem.  Yesterday he upset the money changers tables, irritating the Sadduccees (and obviously the money changers!).  The day before it was the Romans, by riding in as the new political leader, with palm branches waving, a clear sign he was to be the new king.  He even irritated his own disciples with the cursing of the fig tree.

Today it is the rest of the Jewish authority – the Sanhedrin and other priestly officials.  They ask him a question – he dodges their bullets and turns the question around to trap them.  Then he refuses to answer the question.  Resistance.

Soon all his friends will be gone.  He will be alone, arrested and beaten.  He will end up on a cross, rejected by his own people.

This all provides quite a new spin on the words “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  So many these days want to spend time tying this to salvation and how Jesus is the unique way and everyone else is “going to hell”.  I find this to be a ridiculous rabbit hole to head down.

What if Jesus meant all this more literally in his present reality than in some future eschatological sense?

What if the events of this week are the way, the truth, and the life?

What if the truth gets you killed?

What if the Via Dolorosa is the way to life, and that this way to the cross is the beginning of a journey of life?

The March For Our Lives organizers have made it plain – our reality has been getting us killed.  And with the amount of threats and backlash they are getting, the truth may get them killed too.

The way to life is never easy.

Be praying for one of our youth today as she heads to a Town Hall meeting with Tom Cole to do this very thing, along with her #NeverAgain group – set the truth free, ask the tough questions about gun violence, and do her part to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

-Matt