Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Things are about to become difficult for the disciples, and Jesus is giving them the benefit of all that they have learned before in review. Serving one another, communing with the Spirit, and sharing in the suffering of their Savior are disciplines that they can only learn by living them, and this is exactly what all of them will do.

The event of the destruction of Jerusalem happened not long after Jesus walked the earth, and it was indeed a horror. The residents of Jerusalem made a mess of things, and the Romans came down on them hard. It was brutal and violent. Especially since the temple of Jerusalem was so central to worship, this could be seen as a blow against God himself. Of course, that is not the case. Jesus lives today, the worship we produce is fit for him and God will endure even if the whole world disappears.

Moving toward the cross, Jesus is working on establishing some pretty important ideas. Not only that the resurrection is real, and that those who experience it are headed toward a pretty incredible eternity, but also that preparation for eternal life starts now. The widow who have everything understood how that works. She did not lose sight of the eternal, and the things of the present world were not her greatest priority.

Why did Jesus ask about John? Was he trying to change the subject? For that answer, he provides a parable. Just as the vineyard tenants did not recognize the authority of the representatives sent to them, so did the religious leaders truly not recognize God's authority with the prophets through the ages. Otherwise, just as the vineyard visitors, they would have honored their patron by honoring those sent bearing the message.

Jesus riding into town on a colt was the very opposite of the tone set by those who opposed him. On the back of that animal, he would make no war. It was not the steed of a conquering hero, but that is still what he would become. Of course, he would not conquer by killing those who opposed him, the very action of those who were working in the shadows against him. He would conquer through self-sacrifice and love.

Jesus is coming near the end of his ministry, so he is being more direct about his kingship in this new Kingdom. He is also being clear about the failings of the religious leaders who have been leading the people before: they have not all been wise with what was entrusted to them. (Although some have!) Merely being called a caretaker is not enough, it was left to them to do more with what they had.

The ways Jesus made others whole was not universal. For a blind man, it was restoration of sight. For a cheating tax collector, it was abandonment of his cheating lifestyle and coming back to a community that probably despised him. The message and life of Jesus inspired others to do such things, because walking his way was worth the effort.

The Kingdom of Jesus is upside down. The humble are first, children are the example of how we are to be, and having less is having more. Nobody gets left out of the equation, but the poor and marginalized are moved to the head of the class.

The passage about the Second Coming generally causes arguments between theologians, but this much is at least somewhat universal: Jesus is preaching abandonment of the temporal for the eternal. This is an important perspective in this Kingdom, because Jesus aims to remove the distractions between believers and their God. For many, this is a tall order. We are attached to our things. But in the view of the eternal, the way of Jesus is the sweetest path to walk.

It's kind of neat to know that God's plan was so filling the world with the birth of Jesus that even John the Baptist, a baby in his mother's womb, leapt when first in his presence. Jesus was certainly more than a great teacher, he was God incarnate opening up the world to a new order under himself. That certainly was worthy of recognition by a unborn future prophet.