Day 39: Final Preparations
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 part-way through preparing a dish!
During this Lenten season we have focused on the essential ingredients to preparing 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. Each ingredient has been “set in place” to prepare our hearts, to draw us closer to the One Who sacrificed His life for ours. Tomorrow marks Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter—the sixth and last Sunday of Lent, and commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. On the way, Jesus took His disciples aside to prepare their hearts for what was to come. God’s plan had been set in place. 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! As we reflect on the final week of Jesus’ life, may all the ingredients be set in place for us to fully grasp the enormity of the agony of His Passion and the joy of His Resurrection.
Dear Heavenly Father, please remind us once again of the essential ingredients necessary to preparing our hearts for Passion Week. If there is anything missing, anything we have overlooked, convict our hearts, we pray, and we ask for forgiveness and mercy. May we fully grasp what is coming—the agony at the Cross and the joy at the Tomb. For Christ’s sake. Amen.
