It is interesting that this virus went global during the Lenten season and that it continues into Holy Week. With this pandemic, our faith is being tested in new ways in a season already marked by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In a year where we may have otherwise avoided Lent or allowed ourselves to indulge in the things we earlier chose to fast from, the atmosphere of Lent has come to us.

We are exiled from public spaces and the people we usually spend our days with.  We are subject to the monotonous desert of our homes where we are herded by the walls around us into a limited number of rooms. There are grocery stores with bare shelves and people losing jobs. In moments of panic, we cry out that God “brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger” (Exodus 16:3). 

Haven’t you said similar things? I know I have.

So today on Maundy Thursday, just as the Israelites grumbled to God in the desert, we bring our complaints, confusion, anger, and sadness to Jesus at the table. We get down on our knees and tell Him about our suffering. We lament over those who have died or those who are in unsafe homes.

Then, Jesus, our kind host, seated at the head of the Passover table hears us and responds. He lifts the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to us. “Take it; this is my body” (Mark 14:22). He then takes the cup of wine, gives thanks for it, and gives it to us to drink. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:23-24). 

Our kind king feeds us and tells us that He will also suffer for many. On this night, He is a man of great sorrow. Tonight we eat the bread and drink the wine, but tomorrow the unblemished Lamb will be captured and nailed to the cross. Though we may be hungry for some immediate answer to our pain, Jesus continues to offer Himself. His passion, death, and resurrection are mysteries we should dwell on in these unusual times. 

In this way, Jesus reminds us that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). For those of us who trust in the Lord, we can be confident that He will sustain us through all things.

His Word will sustain us through Lent, Easter, and beyond. For these Three Holy Days, we may feel rotten, sad, confused, or angry as we walk with Jesus to the cross. But, let all these emotions compel us to see Him as our kind King, because He receives us no matter how we feel. And, on the third day, He will rise again. The virus will still be here, but we will celebrate and feast in the presence of the enemy; not for one, but for the whole fifty-day season of Easter!