Daily Liturgy and Scripture

The crucifixion of Jesus is part of a pivotal set of events defining the core of Christian beliefs. In that moment, sin lost its hold on mankind. As it was happening, however, the set of events were agonizing. Jesus suffered physical pain and the pain of rejection, but God's plan was being fulfilled. If this were the end of the story, it would be truly tragic. Luckily, it's not.

If Pilate thought he was letting himself off the hook by trying to substitute Jesus for a known violent criminal, he had another thing coming. The crowd wasn't having it. The religious leaders were able to drive the fury of the crowd against him. In the midst of this scene, they say something pretty poignant. "Let his blood be on us and on our children." Indeed it was, but not in the way they imagined. It was the blood of a forgiving savior, cleansing his enemies.

How odd that at this moment, the only person who is saying that Jesus is the Messiah is one of his enemies. Peter isn't because suddenly he sees how dangerous it is to be aligned with Jesus. Not even Jesus himself is doing so, but he seems to capitalize on the moment when the high priest brings it up. Could it be that Jesus was joining the high priest in confirming his identity, creating two witnesses in a similar way to the two witnesses who testified against him? Jewish law actually required this two-witness confirmation to establish something as fact, so maybe so! 

Sometimes the challenge really is just to stay awake. Jesus used a parable of ten virgins staying awake in anticipation for the bridegroom. Now he challenges the apostles, as the crowd approaches him for arrest, to stay awake. Jesus is doing the work here, he is doing the praying. They’re not even called to do that, but just to be alert and observe.

Jesus is moving with intention now. God’s plan isn’t being foiled with the betrayal of Judas looming, but will put Jesus in exactly the place he needs to be. The plan is God’s, the sacrifice is also God’s. Jesus is about to establish a new covenant just as a covenant was established with Abraham, and the initiative has always been God’s. We are drawn into that mystery.

Jesus has harsh words for those who do not care for others. It’s an interesting pairing with the verse from Malachi today as well, with the people of God called out for being stingy with their giving. Both of these together give us a strong truth: the Kingdom of God is not made for lone wolves, and it should be a place of refuge for the poor. Giving is in God’s nature, and if we are mirroring Christ, our nature should also be generous and hospitable.

Faithfulness is one of the main things for which we are responsible in the Kingdom of God. Notice, though, that in the story of the master handing out money, the money is still the master’s. God gives, and we are steward of that which is God’s. Perhaps that is the main difference between the servants who handled the money well: they handled their portion with love and gratitude, and the only thing in the mind of the third servant was fear. Fear of god should not cripple us, but rather remind us that God is worthy of worship.

A lot of this verse is often brought into discussions about the end times,  but there was certainly a closer prediction to Jesus's time: the destruction of the temple and the siege of Jerusalem. It was about 40 years after Jesus's death that it happened, and it would have been a catastrophic event in the lives of many who were hearing Jesus. In the midst of such disaster, what is our command? As always, we are to be faithful and follow him.

Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple and a time of hardship around Jerusalem, and there’s nothing metaphorical about this. It happened. Within 100 years of Jesus’s death, the temple would be destroyed, false messiahs would appear (and be confirmed by respected religious leaders) and things would get bad for those living in the area. The alternative could be taking Jesus at his word, following him in his way of living, and avoiding that path. Of course, not ever one did believe and those hard times are on the horizon.

Remember how yesterday, Jesus was talking to his followers about how chasing power and position wasn’t a quality of those in his Kingdom? Today he turns to those religious leaders among the crowd who WERE chasing power and prestige. They were using religion, the name of God, to do so. They set themselves above the people they led, and criticized those around them without paying attention to their own walk. Jesus wasn’t having this. He called it out directly, with multiple scathing words.