Happy Palm Sunday, St. George’s. And happy Holy Week. Although wishing us happy anything after hearing Matthew’s vivid account of Our Lord’s suffering and death seems a little odd, doesn’t it? Why is it that on Palm Sunday, the final leg of our Lenten pilgrimage, that our celebration of Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem is so abruptly cut short with his Passion? It seems we’ve hardly had time to fully settle into the exuberant occasion of Christ’s kingly arrival before we are splashed with cold water in the untimely news of his heartbreaking death.

Jesus’ disciples did not want him to return to Bethany because they knew they were all at great risk of being killed.  They could not see that something larger was at work.  Sometimes we have a hard time seeing that as well.  When we look at our lives and feel overwhelmed by our circumstances, Christ is there, helping us to hold on. 

Like the blind beggar in the Gospel reading, Louis’ blindness and poverty had not impeded his ability to see Christ’s loving presence in the midst of a world that was largely blind to Louis’s presence. And I don’t think his is merely a story of spiritual perseverance against unfavorable odds. Quite the opposite, I believe, that Louis’s poverty and lack of physical sight are deeply connected to his possession of spiritual sight at a level that can be difficult for many of us when our needs are over-met.

You see, Jesus isn’t there to simply heal or absolve her –he’s there to see her, know her, love her. To be in relationship with her. He’s there to draw her into the divine life. He wants to share his life with her. To share his life with each of us. A life of living water. A life without thirst.

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” (John 4:28-29).

 Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus today shows us that Jesus’ invitation to deepening our faith is all about love.   “For God so LOVED the world.”  God so loved Nicodemus.  God so loves you.  God so loves all of us that God sent Jesus into the world to pierce our hearts with divine love.  Nicodemus is beginning to experience that love when he knocks on Jesus’ door late at night.  There is a yearning that draws him.  Jesus looks at him and loves him.  And he also challenges him, as a loving mother challenges her children.  Jesus challenges with the voice of love, the love of a mother who cares for her child more than her own life.  A mother who is willing to lay down her life for her child. 

If only God would reveal himself to us –answer that question, that prayer, send that sign, grace us with that peace that passeth all understanding in our most desperate and anxious times.

If only God would clear up some of this confusion and make himself known. If only God would align God’s will with mine. If only. Then all would be well, and belief would be made more possible. And with belief, would come trust. And with trust, peace.

But that isn’t the way of God; that is the way of us. The way of God is less about belief and far more about belonging.

God who formed us from the earth; God who walked alongside us in the garden; God who is with us still –this God that we all so desperately long for is a God who wants us not so much to believe in Him but to belong to Him. To abide in Him. To live in the grace of His eternal love.