At mass on Sunday they read the Passion, as is the Palm Sunday tradition, and I was thinking as I heard the very familiar story, how weird the Last Supper must have been. Or was it weird? Maybe it was just par for the course? Throughout Jesus' ministry He's said odd things, foreboding things. Destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days. I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. Who do you say I am? Lazarus get up and walk. The parables, the hints, the whole time the disciples come off confused and clueless. So at the Last Supper, as Jesus hints about His death again and says that someone in that room will betray Him and Peter will deny Him three times, did they sense that this time, something was really up? Danger was imminent? Jesus clearly seemed to be troubled in the Garden of Gethsemane, so was He nervous at dinner? Did He pick at his food? Could they tell? They were His best friends, you know when your best friend is deeply troubled.
Surely, there must have been a nervous tension, but would they have really worried? I mean, they were probably used to the odd things Jesus said and His weird "predictions." But these are His friends, they must have known He was really troubled. If they realized this, were they worried? I grew up being told that when I'm scared I can pray and God will take care of me. As much as I still believe that, God isn't really tangible in the way that policemen and airbags and those other things that protect us are tangible. The disciples had God right there with them. They must have felt invincible. People had tried to harm Jesus before but He always snuck away. Sure, Judas could betray Him, but what harm could that really do. Jesus is God. No one can touch Him. Maybe the disciples weren't scared.
Those must have been the worst 72 hours of their lives. It must have been the worst 72 hours in the history of the world.
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