Why call this week 'holy'?

Why do we call this week 'holy'? Perhaps that is a good starting point as we enter Holy Week.   In what way is it sacred?

 A million upon a million people around the world could tell you harrowing stories of violence and terror and death and unfathomable loss.  We have become familiar with the names in our own country, names like Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas, names like Twin Towers and Pulse Night Club.  These are the big stories with lots of press coverage.  There are also the solo stories - anonymous to the vast majority of us - stories of private abuse, gay baiting and Muslim hating.  There are the international stories of Syrian civilians being bombed into oblivion, of the desperately poor starving an inch at a time, of the racial minorities targeted by those in power.

Jesus was not the first nor the last to die a torturous death at the hands of powerful military forces.  Jesus was not the first nor last to reveal the depth of humanity's inhumanity, the power of evil in our lives, and our continued willingness to sacrifice the one, the weak, the young, the other in order to maintain a status quo that benefits us.

Yet he was the one who called himself Son of God.  It is a title that points to his coming suffering, his oneness with every suffering human being everywhere, while claiming a oneness with the Divine Creator that sets him apart from every other created being.

So perhaps we call this week holy because it tells the story of Jesus, God's holy one among us.  This is the story that challenges every preconceived concept we had of a bright and shiny glorious God with the picture of a suffering crucified one named Jesus. Even in its thousandth re-telling, it remains mystery just as God is mystery.

Or perhaps we call this week 'holy' because the picture of a suffering crucified Jesus - suffering with us and because of us - suffering in every inch of his being as an offering of love for each of us - is holy.  It does not look away from the reality of our lives but takes our suffering into the very heart of the story and into the heart of God.

This week we watch as Jesus walks towards the cross in actions so far above and beyond this world's understanding that the only word we have to describe it all is 'holy'. This is a Holy Week for God has come close to the heart of creation and carried creation into the heart of God.