Every clergyperson I know is emotionally exhausted after Holy Week and Easter. I used to think it was because of the extra work involved in planning and leading extra services: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter morning and perhaps a Vigil. Undoubtedly the extra services wear a person out.
But as I experience Holy Week over and over I've come to realize that there's an emotional toll that comes from spending time with Jesus in his final days. Our liturgies ask us to identify with Jesus' suffering and death, and as we throw ourselves into these observances, we engage our own emotions.
We experience the stress of the Last Supper; we pour out our souls in the Garden of Gethsemane; we stand before Pilate; we carry the cross to Golgotha and we feel the nails of the cross. It's traumatizing.
I've wondered at times whether this is healthy. Is it good for us to engage in this kind of lurid imagination? Maybe we should ditch the agony and the suffering.
But I'm sure that identifying with Jesus in his last hours is key to understanding the Christian mystery of death and resurrection. Exactly how that works, I can't say. But if there is any depth to be gained, we gain it by walking with Jesus in his passion.
I don't understand it yet. But every year I learn a little more.
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