Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
It is true, is it not, that those who do not seek to change themselves often set out on a destructive course to change others, the world, or even God. We see this in the text below from Jeremiah, where the people of Judah and Jerusalem re plotting to kill Jeremiah because he speaks the truth about their corruption. Look at how Jeremiah speaks words of forgiveness!
“18 Then they said, ‘Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us bring charges against him, and let us not heed any of his words.’ ‘19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to what my adversaries say! 20 Is evil a recompense for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them’” Jeremiah 18:18-20.
In Matthew’s Gospel we see Jesus inviting His inner circle of followers to smite Jesus in redemptive suffering instead of violence. Against all odds, against all expectations of others, Jesus invites us all “to drink of the cup” and to invite others to doo the same.
“17 While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves and said to them on the way, 18 ‘Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; 19 then they will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.’
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. 21 And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ 22 But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ 23 He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.
24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many’” Matthew 20:17-28.
Do you see the two apostles sending their mother to plead their case against dying, but instead being enthroned? This story ends with a clear judgement on us all, for we still too often do not want to change ourselves; we want to change others instead.
Pray today that you will desire to change. Ask God to help you do this.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
תגובות