Lent 2016 (C) 2016-03-20: Reading the Lectionary with my family
(I encourage you to read the full text. Hold me accountable if you feel it has not been handled well. It is what Scripture means when it says to wrestle with the Bible and mentally struggle with it and inwardly digest it.)
The Cross is the pivotal moment of human history; it is the critical movement of God's plan to restore us to what He created us to be. As we approach the suffering and victory of Christ it is important to see and contemplate what was done to Jesus with a humble heart. It is necessary to see the particular place each of us holds in Jesus' work upon the Cross. Too often we memorialize and ritualize this week and it becomes a series of mere liturgies steeped in history and tradition but void of transformative meaning. This week is set apart, it is Holy, not only because of what was done but because of what is being done and will be done in each of us. We may be tempted to imagine our own behaviour toward Jesus would have been righteous; we may imagine we would have loved and stood firmly with Jesus through every adversity. Sadly, the evidence that we continue to walk in a darkness sustained by our idols, surrounded by suffering yet focused on ourselves suggests we have not laid down our lives for the other, we have not taken up the cross and that we would not have stood firm with Christ.
Can we pray as we move through this Holy week that we be set apart to do God's work - that we be made Holy - that we take up the Cross and follow Jesus? Can we pray that we be transformed at our very core to see the needs of every other person as a higher priority than our own needs? Can we seek the happiness of others as the priority of each and every action and word? Can we love the other above ourselves? These are the questions Christ asks of His followers - this is the perspective of our Christ.
For today's full-text click here
