EVEN JESUS HAD BAD DAYS
Holy Week Reading 2: Mark 11:12-25

What does a bad day feel like? Whether it started yesterday at noon or first thing this morning, is there a feeling associated with your bad day? Maybe you experience an actual pain, like a mental, physical, or emotional hurt. Or, like so many of us, maybe you awoke with a complaint about Monday, taking a cue from those teenage sweethearts, The Bangles, who so adequately described their “Manic Monday.”

Yes, maybe it is Mondays’ fault. It’s the sixth Monday of Lent, the fourth Monday of the Corona pandemic, the third Monday of no Final Four, and the second Monday in a row that I woke up with a blistering headache. Since my problems must always be someone else’s fault, I’m siding with The Bangles and choosing to blame it on Monday.

On this Monday of Holy Week, we’re reminded that Jesus had a few bad days, too. Today, we’re reminded of how Jesus goes nuts in the temple and curses an innocent fig tree that was minding its own business. Jesus had just arrived in town, riding on the main float in the parade, only to lose His cool and take it out on some wayward retailers and a nice tree that just grew in the wrong place.

Sometimes, life seems like it’s going the wrong way. For Jesus, He knew that things would eventually be okay at Easter. But between here and there, His life was headed in a bad direction. Jesus was going to be sold to His enemies by one of his closest friends and denied by the person who would be the leader of the Christian Church a week later. Did Jesus have just cause for losing his cool? Yeah, He did. Does Jesus wish that He could’ve done it differently? I dunno, and I’m going to stop way short of trying to answer that question. But at a minimum, it’s worth noting that God understands our bad days.

When times like this occur, whether it’s because a Pandemic infects our world or a best friend betrays us, it’s important to remember that this is the reason that Jesus is here. We are imperfect and prone to mistakes, just as the earth is imperfect and vulnerable to the forces of nature. However, Jesus reminds us that if we have Faith and give ourselves and our burdens to God, God will save us, protect us, and set us on the path of a new start.

We don’t know what today holds. We know even less about tomorrow. But whatever we face during our day, we can be confident that God already has it under control. How will we respond to the bad day? That’s up to us! But because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we no longer are prisoners of the unfortunate moments of our bad day. Easter is approaching, and despite our best (or worst) efforts, there’s nothing we can do to mess that up. Thank you, God!

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:24-25, NIV).