Wet Holy Week

Wet Holy Week

And now the weather forecast for this Holy Week - it's going to be a wet one for Jesus.  Water, water everywhere.

Sure, Jerusalem is dry and dusty.  "I thirst!" Jesus cries from the cross.  But Holy Week is liquid.  Here’s a Blue Theology of Holy Week, Jesus' last week as told by water:

Jerusalem's annual rainfall is actually 23 inches, not so different from our "Mediterranean" climate here in California.  When Jesus walks that lonesome valley - it might have been in the rain, a journey not only lonely, but muddy.  Even those good drought resistant plants, like the palms that adorned the street last Sunday, and the olives that shelter him in the garden Thursday night -  water is their life source, as it is ours.

I love the wet intimacy of two special times of washing in this last week - Jesus bathing the disciples' feet on Thursday night, and the women bringing ointment and water to the tomb on Sunday morning.  What well did all that water come from?  Lots of water went into the 100  pounds of spices Joseph of Arimathea sent along to his tomb.  Even the vinegar that is the soldiers' hostile response to Jesus' cry for water - it's all wet.

Jesus eats every day, and it takes gallons of water to make that last wine and bread, not to mention the Passover meal and the figs and pomegranates.  You need 150 gallons of water to make just one loaf of bread.  Even the risen Christ drinks wine with the disciples at Emmaus.  The beach breakfast probably had some drinks along with the (wet) fish.

The thirsty Jesus on the cross - is he recalling the cool wetness of his baptism in the River Jordan?  Does he remember the woman at the well to whom he said, "I am the living water, follow me and you will never thirst again?"

As Jesus' mother stands at the foot of the cross, is she remembering him in the waters of her womb?  Throughout his life Jesus bleeds, sweats, cries - all his body fluids, 75% of his body, like ours, are wet and salty, memories of his, and our heritage in the sea.

We still live in a thirsty time and we are a dry people, thirsting for righteousness as well as a cool glass of water.  Our God also thirsts.  And our God is living water, a deep well that never runs dry.

Come and drink of the holy blue waters of Easter.

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Our May 9 Retreat/Resource Blue Theology Day in Pacific Grove for clergy and religious educators includes Bible study of Jesus by the sea, as well as a spiritual tour of the Aquarium, a served sustainable seafood lunch and a service project.  Already 10 sign ups, limit 30.