Friday, December 16, 2022

 

Friday, December 16, 2022


Psalms 11; 14

Isaiah 47:5-15

Mark 10:32-45


Observance: Third Friday in Advent


Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.


On balance, life is pretty good. There are friends and family around, plenty of feasting, and the kingdom is growing everywhere we look. Sure, there are enemies around, people who are jealous at our joy, and who celebrate over our mourning. But overall, things are looking up.


Then, Jesus turns towards Jerusalem.


All His critics, His enemies, those who would do Him harm, the deadly lines of human greed and selfish power, all centred on the holy city. This is where Jesus wants to go. Of course there was amazement and fear: at the risk, the danger of what could be.


But this is the mission for which Jesus came to fulfil. He must go there. He must expose the love humans have for darkness and death by contrasting it with His glorious light and life. And He must take the cup of God’s wrath, the wrath directed against and result of all our evil, and drink it down to the dregs, so that there is none left for those whom He loves.


Who killed Jesus? It wasn’t the Jewish authorities. It wasn’t Pilate. It wasn’t the crowd, and it wasn’t the team of soldiers who nailed Him to the cross. Jesus went willingly, and was in absolute control over everything that happened. We know the story: the disciples fled, and Peter denied Him. They didn’t accept that He was speaking literally when He said He would come back from the dead, and they didn’t trust that He was who He said He was: Yahweh, God incarnate.


But just as Jesus waited for His disciples on the beach after His resurrection, and gave them the Holy Spirit (as promised) at Pentecost, so too does Jesus expect our mistrust and forgive us for it. Because there is always a greater miracle for our own lives, a greater blossom on the tree of the kingdom of God for us to see, if we would trust Him. He may lead us into the belly of the dragon, the Jerusalem, the camp of the enemy. But He is always in control, and He always has something wonderful to make out of every situation. Simply trust, obey, and follow Him: He is in control, and He loves us.



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