The week of truth is coming

This next week, Christians will have the realities of the faith set before us. Well, we have the realities of the faith set before us every Sunday when we gather for worship, as Christians do on Sundays; but during Holy Week, which begins this Sunday, shall we have the realities of the faith presented to us in particularly painful clarity, that the faith is not some fantasy about how it’s a wonderful life, and people are basically good at heart, and all will be well if only you count your many blessings and pretend that all things evil and ugly in this world are not there.
This Sunday shall see our Lord Jesus riding into Jerusalem, celebrated by a crowd waving palm branches and singing praises, all so wonderful; but as that vision is set before us, we will know that another tree lurks in the shadows. And Good Friday will set the most appalling image before us: the Son of God exposed to the most dreadful sufferings.