A Season of Hope ~ Preparing Our Hearts for Easter
Matthew 20: 17-19
“Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day, He will be raised to life!’”
Hanging over our kitchen island was the sign “Mise en place.” During the years I taught cooking and tea classes, the sign was a reminder of the culinary term that is imperative to any cook. It means, “set in place”— having all your equipment and ingredients together before starting a cooking project. There is nothing worse than finding you are missing an essential ingredient when in the middle of preparing a dish!
During this Lenten season, we have focused on the essential ingredients to prepare our hearts for Easter: prayer, fasting, repentance, being in God’s Word, and having a heart that extends Christ’s love to others in word and in deed. We now have all the ingredients “set in place” to prepare our hearts for Passion Week. All of the ingredients are intended to draw us closer to the One Who sacrificed His life for ours, and to reflect on and fully comprehend the enormity of the agony of His crucifixion and the joy of His Resurrection.
Tomorrow marks Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter—the sixth and last Sunday of Lent, which commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. All the ingredients for God’s plan had been set in place. He took His disciples aside to prepare their hearts for what was to come. I would imagine their hearts must have been crushed, or perhaps they were in denial, not fully able to grasp what He was saying.
As Jesus’ triumphal journey begins, He enters the city riding on a donkey, met by crowds spreading their cloaks and palm branches on the street shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Their long-awaited Messiah and King had come! But they had much to learn about this Messiah, and it was not what they expected from their King. God had a different Kingdom in mind for this long-awaited King.
Dear Heavenly Father, please remind me once again of the essential ingredients necessary to prepare my heart for Passion Week. If there is anything missing, anything I have overlooked, convict my heart, I pray. I ask for forgiveness and mercy. May I fully grasp what is coming—the agony at the Cross and the joy at the Tomb. For Christ’s sake, I pray. Amen.
