THE GOD OF SECOND CHANCES

The wicked say:
Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.  Wisdom 2:12
 
“Jesus was teaching his disciples,
‘The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.’
But they did not understand the saying. . . .

“They came to Capernaum and Jesus asked them,
‘What were you arguing about?’
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.”  Mark 9: 30-34

Are we surprised that, soon after hearing Jesus say that people were going to hand him over to be killed, the disciples are focusing their attention on who, among themselves, is the greatest?  Tragedy and death is going to befall their friend and leader, and what they are concerned about is where they will end up in the wake of this?  What would you or I have been thinking, were we there?

THEN AND NOW

Do we do this, even now in regard to what we hear and what we are told might happen:  look at events, be they trivial, like the outcomes of our sport team’s games, or more serious?  Are our first thoughts about us and the impact of a threat on us, on those “we” love, on “our” cause, on “our” team?  As we are progressing through our earthly lives, is our perspective changing?

Two thousand years have gone by and we, in many ways, are no different than the somewhat myopic sighted disciples were. But, for them, that was before the Resurrection of Jesus.  We are (or, at least, should be) viewing things with the Light of the Resurrection. Sadly, our thoughts and concerns are not always as morally correct as we would like them to be. So, what can we do about that?

LET GOD BE GOD

We can turn ourselves toward God in prayer as we gather each weekend and do so in private and with our family and friends during the week. There we turn our attention away from ourselves and toward our God. We can remember that God is here and rest in His presence. We can remember that this God, from the beginning of our existence, never “forced” anything on us, not even moral uprightness.  We can remember that what we got from this God, from Love itself, is the sheer Gift of God’s favor toward “me”, toward “us” – God’s satisfaction with “my” and “our” fumbling, and our getting up again and striving to discover more about His favor toward us.

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me?” Psalm 116

I hope and pray that my and your answer is that of the psalmist, “The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.”  Dying to selfishness and rising to God-centeredness isn’t always easy, but with practice it becomes joyful and enlightening.

Sister Loretta

PSALM 116, verses 12-19

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.

O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.