The middle of Holy Week. Isn’t it about time we get a preview of coming attractions? How else are we going to get through the week? How are we going to be prepared?
Maybe it’s the same in your house, but we don’t wait till Sunday morning to get ready for Easter. We start early. We make lists, go shopping, dye the eggs, get the grass, get the baskets and Carol makes her lamb cake.
Guideposts Chat!
|
There are a lot of steps to the lamb cake. She uses an old mold, one she got from her grandmother.
It usually needs some dusting off, then she’s got to buy all the ingredients to make the cake: sugar, flour, butter, eggs, coconut and the jelly beans for the lamb’s eyes and nose.
Jesus was the Lamb of God and in the middle of our table for Easter brunch, we have a cake that says that. Our cat Fred has been known to jump on the dining room table to investigate, wondering if his role as king of the roost is being usurped by this culinary creature.
Even in the midst of Holy Week’s sorrows, we give ourselves this sweet hint of what’s to come. Dare I say that Jesus did so too for his disciples, trying to tell them, trying to prepare them for what was happening?
Wednesday of Holy Week is traditionally when Mary was said to anoint Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume, almost three-quarters of a pound of it, made of pure nard.
Judas was furious, complaining about the waste. The perfume was worth a year’s wages. Shouldn’t it have been sold and the money given to the poor? As the Gospel of John puts it, “He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it.” (12:6)
Jesus remonstrated with Judas and reminded the rest of them that this perfume was to be used in preparation for his burial, something that would happen only a few days hence. He’s teaching, preparing them. If only they would listen.
With the benefit of hindsight, we know what he’s referring to. We know how the story ends, the Easter celebration to come, the lamb cake on our dining room table. But the disciples weren’t that lucky. And often in life we aren’t either. We don’t know the happy ending for the tragedy we might find ourselves in.
Therefore my prayer for Easter Wednesday is for me to stay alert. To look for the signs. To listen. To wait. To be better prepared. To be ready.
Good things are coming. The lamb cake is being prepared. I can almost smell it cooking.
Don’t forget to join me on Twitter @Rick_Hamlin for a Guideposts Chat about your favorite Bible verses. Thursday, April 2, at 3 p.m. EST. As always, we’ll have some books to give away.
