Listen

Following Jewish burial customs, they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the spices, in linen cloths. There was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus in it.

John 19:40-42

Think

In his book, The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claibourne shares about caring for people who were dying in Calcutta: “I helped folks eat, massaged muscles, gave baths, and basically tried to spoil people who really deserved it. The goal was…to allow people to die with dignity, with someone loving them, singing, laughing, so they were not alone.”

The people who bury Jesus’ body are often overlooked. They only get a handful of verses in the Bible. They faithfully do the less-than-glamorous work that needs to be done after Jesus’ death. They carry his body, cover him with spices, wrap him with cloths, and lay him in the tomb. While these may be small and insignificant actions, they are done with great care and tremendous love.

“While the temptation to do great things is always before us,” Claibourne says, “I learned the discipline of doing small things with great deliberation. As Mother Teresa used to say, ‘We can do no great things, just small things with great love.’”

Mary Alice Birdwhistell

Pray

God of everything that feels so big and everything that seems so small, help me to do even the smallest things with extravagant Love for you. Amen.

Go

As you go about this Holy Week,
don’t be afraid to go to the edge
of what seems most ordinary
and comfortable
and familiar.

Because if you pay attention,
you will find that
extraordinary Love is hidden
in the most unexpected places around you,
and even within you.

And once you encounter it,
this Love will
never leave you the same.

May you have the courage to show up this week.

May you live fully in each fragile moment.

And may you do even the smallest things with extravagant Love.

Amen.