In most Christian traditions, this week is known as Holy Week – the week starting with Palm Sunday and leading to Easter Sunday. Traditionally, in Western Christianity, the week begins by commemorating Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Judas’s betrayal of Jesus (commemorated on Wednesday), and the Last Supper and Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles (commemorated on Maundy Thursday), the commemoration of the Passion of the Cross on Good Friday, and Christ’s descent to Hades, commemorated on Holy Saturday before the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
With this week being Holy Week, we reached out to guest blogger and Willow Brook Chaplain, Adam Metz. He has written a four part series for the blog this week, with a special message from now through Holy Saturday. We will be sharing this series in four installments – one each day, beginning with the following message:
I sweat profusely. I don’t particularly enjoy admitting it, but it’s true. I’ve got more than a couple of armpit-stained shirts to prove it. My son seems to have been cursed with the same genetic propensity for perspiration. My dad is like that too. We don’t glow; we sweat. And stink! It can be pretty embarrassing to have sweat dripping from the tip of your nose while the person next to you is perfectly composed (not to mention, bone dry). And you don’t ever want to see my post-workout salty profusion – I need a beach towel. It shouldn’t bother me because it is a fact of life. Everyone sweats . . . but some of us do sweat a little more than others. (And a few of us sweat a lot more than others.)
Everyone does sweat, but it seems kind of strange for me to think about Jesus sweating. Don’t get me wrong, if you asked me, “Chaplain, did Jesus sweat?” I wouldn’t even hesitate. “Of course Jesus sweat! He was fully human!” At the same time, as easily as that answer rolls off my tongue, and if I am being honest, I admit it is difficult for me to imagine Jesus with sweaty armpits. And I’m no historian of personal hygiene, but I would bet a lot of money he never even used deodorant.
While the church has been quick to describe Jesus as “fully man,” it has struggled to flesh that out (see what I did there?) into a fuller picture of who Jesus was/is. All the way back into the 2nd century there were these folks known as Docetists who believed Jesus only seemed to be human – the name Docetist comes from the Greek verb dokein which means “to seem.” They believed the “flesh” was too corrupted for God to associate his holy presence with it so he only appeared to be human, but he wasn’t really. This led them to some interesting beliefs like Jesus didn’t leave footprints behind or cast a shadow.
Docetism was eventually rejected as heresy and seeing Jesus as fully human (and fully God) has been long established as Christian orthodoxy, but churches still have a tendency to emphasize one side of Jesus or the other. The Western, Latin Church (which most of are products of) has tended to emphasize Jesus’ deity. It is not difficult for us to imagine Jesus walking on water or healing diseases or driving out demons, but sweating? That is a stretch for many of us.
A few years ago, I came across the practice of imaginative prayer from Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius was a 16th century monk and founder of the Jesuits. Between 1522 and 1524 he wrote Spiritual Exercises – a kind of personal retreat guide which invites the reader on an encounter with God through meditation and reflection on Scripture. Part of these Spiritual Exercises is the practice of imaginative prayer.
Imaginative prayer invites us into the story of Scripture. Ignatius encouraged the readers to read through a story of Scripture slowly and carefully. Take note of the surroundings. What is the landscape? Who is there? Notice the smells and sounds around you. Imaginative prayer invites us to see the story anew. It’s also a way of coming to terms with the fact that Jesus had sweaty armpits.
The church practices a kind of imaginative prayer during the Lenten season more than at any other time of the year. We are invited to travel with Jesus in his 40 days of trials and temptations. The sights and sounds of the upper room and the road to Jerusalem are palpable. We feel the palm branches. We hear the hammer on the nail. We smell the blood. I can imagine the Jesus of the cross sweating. Which is why I find Holy Week so important. If we rush to Easter, we may be tempted to be like the Docetists imagining Jesus merely seemed human.
I would invite you to walk with me on these final days of Holy Week. We’ll use a kind of Ignatian-inspired approach to see how we might find ourselves in the Passion story. It will be a good exercise in reminding ourselves that yes, Jesus did sweat. For me. For you. Jesus bled. For you. For me. There can be no resurrection without the road to Golgotha. I’ll offer a short meditation here for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Join us as we walk with Jesus to the cross.
