Save me, O Lord, in your kindness. Psalm 31
Our Post is Inspired by The Holy Spirit.
Heed me, O LORD,
and listen to what my adversaries say.
Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak in their behalf,
to turn away your wrath from them. Jer 18
Save me, O Lord, in your kindness. Psalm 31
Jesus said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Mt 20
We are quoting all three readings because they tie in so beautifully, but maybe not the way you are thinking.
In the first reading, Jeremiah is pleading with God to come to his aid for he has done what he had been asked to do,
I stood before you
to speak in their behalf,
to turn away your wrath from them.
As I thought about what Jeremiah was saying, he was doing, as Jesus will do when I die, that being, Jesus will Justify me because of His Life, Death, and Resurrection.
Jesus took my sins on His Cross.
The responsorial Psalm has a little different twist: “Save me, Lord, in your kindness.”
Now we get to the Gospel reading and Jesus is sharing with his disciples what is going to happen to Him when they get to Jerusalem. Notice Jesus does not ask to be saved as Jeremiah had asked, for as you all know Jesus will become the Savior who saves us, by his death and resurrection.
What has always fascinated me about this Gospel reading is, Jesus, explaining what He will be going through
“Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,”
This by the way is another proof that Jesus is who He says He is, by telling exactly what will happen to Him in the future.
The first time Jesus indicated how He would die, as you may recall, Peter rebuked Jesus and said this wouldn’t happen. Jesus responded, “Get behind me satan!” Mt.16:23
I don’t know how many other times Jesus told His disciples about how he was going to die, but this particular occurrence is very interesting for me,
Why?
Read His words again,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,”
What do you think should be an appropriate response?
Not Peter’s we know.
But maybe a recognition of what Jesus is saying that He is going to go through.
Or maybe just an acknowledgment of how awful this death will be, for they all knew full well the horror of scourging and crucifixion.
Today’s response is:
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Mt 20
Wow!
This paragraph has always blown me away.
Jesus is going to suffer the cruelest death known to man, and the Mother of James and John, and her sons James and John’s response in the very next paragraph is, “Let my two sons sit one on your left and one on your right.”
They didn’t hear a word Jesus said, and if they did they were more interested in their status in life, and how they could get ahead, rather than what and maybe why Jesus would have to suffer this type of death.
But why is that paragraph in the Bible in the first place?
I now believe this is a reflection of many of us here and now, which is why I enjoy writing these blogs. The Holy Spirit working in my life.
Consider,
In my youth, I was closer to God when God was answering my prayers as I specified they should be answered.
Talk about chutzpah!
And I was disappointed if God didn’t take my lead and do exactly as I asked.
I am telling God what I want, and how God is to accomplish it, and when God doesn’t respond to my request, I felt God had let me down, and this is exactly what the mother of James and John did!
She and her sons didn’t give a hoot for what Jesus was going to go through, and never asked why He had to experience this awful death. She was just promoting her sons. That is all she wanted, and the rest of humanity can go down the toilet.
This is also interesting to me because she is also climbing over Peter, who was declared by Jesus as the Rock upon which His, Jesus’s, Church would be built. Mt. 16:18
It would seem to me Peter would be sitting on either the left or the right.
So now we go back to the Responsorial Psalm and say, “Save me, O Lord, in your kindness,” and the saving is from ourselves and our selfish lifestyle, where concern for those around us takes second place to our needs.
Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
“The nine” We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
In our last Blog, yes we are calling this a blog because I met a man who is big in the writing field and he said that he enjoyed our blogs. I had always wanted to write a blog, and now surprise surprise that is what God has me doing.
In our last post, excuse me, blog, I mentioned that the first Lent I tried to stop smoking, Lent lasted for about fifteen minutes after I arrived at the office.
We said, “That was a fast lent!”
Let me explain further.
For me when I, we, say we are going to do something you do it!
I, not we, I didn’t know the Holy Spirit at the time, said I would stop smoking.
I caved after fifteen minutes.
Game over!
And it’s game over because once you quit, the game is over.
satan loves quitters.
Yes, I could start again, but in reality, the game was over.
Other years I gamed Lent by saying I would do something on weekdays but not weekends, or I would give up whatever it was unless someone were to ask us out, and then I would be a good guest, throw God under the bus, and do what I said I was giving up.
Playing games is NOT the way to celebrate Lent, satan, encouraged me to do this, and sadly at the time, I didn’t know how to throw satan out.
I never completed that Lent that I said I would stop smoking, or later Lents I tried gaming Lent, and I always ended those Lents with the feeling I had not grown in my Love of God, and therefore I ended Lent feeling down.
I didn’t grow in Joy!
At that time I didn’t know Joy, or how to grow in Joy, so in many ways life was tough.
We pray that this Lent will be filled with Joy for you as you keep your promise to God to do whatever it is you said you would do.
As a side note, Tim Gray of the Formed said yesterday that Sunday is a day for celebration and we don’t have to fast on that day.
He’s right!
But,
Take smoking, for example, if I lit up on Sundays I would never have stopped this awful habit. I am not one who can stop, start, and stop again. I need the full forty days, and actually I, we, extend Lent for another week and then I find I have a new habit.
Now I, we, celebrate a new me, one who has beaten back satan in a small way, stopped smoking, reading the Bible daily, attending daily Mass, to mention three successful Lents, and with this, I have found life to be a lot more Joyful.
We pray that this lent will end successfully for you and you will celebrate your success and grow in Joy.
