Thought for the Day
Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland
Thursday, April 5th, 2012

In the Christian calendar this week is called Holy Week. Today is Maundy Thursday. On the evening of this day, Jesus broke bread and poured out wine into a cup and said that this act of his, done at a dinner table, was the way he wanted God’s love for people to be remembered. Re-enact this, he said - “do this” - as a way of remembering - even embodying - what God’s love is and what human love can hope to be.

Love is broken and poured out for others.

Love needs to be demonstrated. We find that out the hard way. Those who’ve not been loved or not loved appropriately will tell you that.

Strong feelings don’t count for much. They’re a fluid thing. They move on. They’re not what love is. Love translates into care – it builds, protects and nurtures. I know you love me because of what you did – not because of what you said.

The Galilean Springtime at the beginning of Jesus' ministry - the excitement, the crowds, the novelty - have been replaced in Holy Week by something darker. The story is mysterious and symbol-filled. It can’t be embodied in a parable or a speech from a hillside.

Many Christian churches do not, so much, preach the message of Holy Week as they will “walk through it” – walking around the church or the streets bearing Palm branches or carrying a cross. Churches of different denominations in small towns will often do rather a lot together this week – leaving aside the things which separate them in order to gather as one community around a common story:

What Jesus did in those dark days leading to Easter,

The way he showed what God’s love was like.

When we are full of years, the words spoken to us by the people who loved us will begin to recede but we will always remember that we were cared for and valued at a cost.

That love made us who we are. It gave us the ability to or at least made it possible for us to love others like that.
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Audio link available HERE or a while. TFTD begins at 1:21:47 - about halfway along the audio bar.