The days leading up to Easter are often referred to as Holy Week. This year, dates for Passover and Ramadan also coincide with this period. A Trifecta!

It’s not uncommon for a passion play to be held at this time of year. Part religious theatrical, part civic pageant, the story recounting Jesus of Nazareth’s trial, suffering, and death takes place all over the world.

From annual events at community churches to Oberammergau, Germany’s spectacle, which takes place every ten years, a simply robed, tortured man wearing a crown of thorns is paraded through town to remind people of the suffering Jesus endured and the liberation that can be experienced by surrendering to faith.

I didn’t expect to see a “passion play” unfold in Nashville, In Tennessee’s state house, but that is what I witnessed this past week.

Following yet another mass shooting, at a local Christian elementary school, in which six people, including three nine year-olds, lost their lives, Republican legislators from Tennessee’s Republican dominated state house expelled two of Tennessee’s newest elected representatives simply because they wanted to start discussion on improving gun safety laws in the state.

The two representatives were young and black and hailed from growing urban centers. A third representative, a middle aged white woman, a career educator who personally survived a school-shooting, narrowly retained her seat after a vote by the mostly rural assembly of white men.

The Tennessee Three faced expulsion for “disrupting official proceedings,”  which seemed like a dubious charge when compared to other incidences where censure was not even imposed.

There was a famous incident when a Republican member of the house pissed on another representative’s office chair and a recent incident where a powerful representative was accused of sexually assaulting three teenaged girls.

No acts of violence or desecration of property were involved here. Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson were simply trying to show solidarity with a diverse group of demonstrators who started to occupy the Capitol in Nashville following the tragic school shooting the previous week.

They wanted to see legislative action take place to ban assault rifles, at least, to pass serious background checks and red flag laws, actions overwhelmingly supported by the state and country.

The newly-elected representatives may have shouted, but it is easy to understand their frustration that related topics weren’t already on the agenda.

The scene, which played on TV news channels and streamed on phones everywhere, struck me as a kind of passion play.

It was a shared experience where suffering can be transmuted into hope.

Teens and adults, from cities and farms, gathered to bring attention to the problem of people in government caring more about their re-election than about the lives of those they represent. They’ve made their first priority “winning,” not “service.”

The three reps being called out for acting disrespectfully, when making comments in their defense, emphasized their cause, not their career. They spoke eloquently on a child’s right to go to school without fear.

The Tennessee Three were willing to face personal consequences so that the voiceless could be heard. They wanted to advocate for children who don’t want to live in fear of AR-47s on their playgrounds. They wanted to speak for the people who elected them.

Not just representing their districts, they also stood up for countless Americans across the country who worry about the state of our democracy.

Most reasonable people understand the idea of fairness and, while they might agree to disagree with others on many policies, they can’t abide by the thought of the minority thwarting and bullying the majority.

I have been haunted and encouraged by Justin Jones’ words, uttered just before being expelled. “The world is watching,”

I was overcome by the feeling that because the world is watching, people who seek common sense and fairness will inspire others to work together to effect needed change.

Seeing possibilities emerge during difficult times is no small thing.