Holy Week is a journey from light to darkness, one that forces us to face our own betrayals, weaknesses, denials and acts of injustice. But Jesus is always with us, as the light of the world.
We are going on a journey this week: A voyage into darkness. Our trek begins in the light of Palm Sunday, the day Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph, with a large crowd spreading branches on the road and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”1 In our imaginations, we can see Jesus in bright sunshine, mounted on a donkey and surrounded by supportive disciples. As Holy Week begins, it is clear that Jesus is the light of the world.
But then, dark clouds begin to gather. Shadows lengthen as the chief priests and elders of the people begin to question the authority of Jesus. Then they devise a plot to kill him. Judas agrees to betray Jesus, and the light of Christ is quickly snuffed out by weakness, denial, injustice, ridicule and crucifixion.
This is an uncomfortable journey for us to take because we can see ourselves in many of the characters in the story: Disciples, people in the crowd, religious leaders, soldiers. None of us can be, like Jesus, the light of the world. Every one of us has a mixture of darkness and light within us. Inside us are shadows.
Fortunately, there is a Christian tradition that can help us to accept this reality. Called the Celtic Christian tradition, it arose in Scotland, Ireland and northern England in the Middle Ages. Celtic Christians are aware that life is a mixture of good and evil, strength and weakness, light and darkness. They do not see themselves or other people as being all good ... or all bad.
Holy Week is an appropriate time to embrace the Celtic Christian tradition. According to a scholar named Esther De Waal, when we pray in the Celtic way, we are aware of both darkness and light. Celtic Christians refuse to deny darkness, pain and suffering, even as they celebrate the light, the fullness and the goodness of life. Darkness and light are both a part of Celtic Christianity, just as they are a part of our full humanity.2
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