Preferring Nothing to Christ

Listen to Anna’s Story

Read Luke 2:22-38 and Mark 12:38-44

Anna talks of visiting her great aunt and listening to old stories of her faith.
Who are the storytellers in your own life?

Her great aunt tells her ‘It’s your story, too- never let them paint you out.’
Which Biblical women have inspired you?

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission. 

Isaiah 49:1-6
John 13:21-33,36-38

While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me.

In today’s Gospel the mood intensifies. We can easily imagine the scene of Jesus sharing a meal with his disciples. When film producers portray this they build the drama with music and dramatic pauses. I always imagine it as a sultry night.

Meals are intimate occasions. Friendships can be deepened and difficulties healed through the sharing of food. They can also highlight discord and deepen rifts. In this meal the figure of Judas comes into full focus for us. It’s uncomfortable and leaves me unsettled. I am always left wondering what motivated Judas. There seems a certain inevitability about the events that will unfold. His fate seems sealed:
As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen.

This always chills me. In John’s Gospel there is a play between light and darkness, sight and blindness. The very next lines in the text are ‘now has the Son of man been glorified’. There is no portrayal of a victim here. Jesus is in control. That God’s glory is to be revealed through suffering is our focus now, to this we cling.

Imagine the scene.
Do you follow Judas out into the night?
Or do you stay sitting at the table?

How is God speaking to you through this scene?

Listen to Sarah’s Story

Read Mark 11:27-12:34

What do you hear in Sarah’s description of being in Jerusalem for Passover?
Have you ever made a pilgrimage? What did you learn about yourself.?

When Sarah listens to Jacob’s experience in the Temple she shares his love of the Law and the debates that are had. What the questions that you would like to raise about your own faith? Do you have places where you can do this?

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission. 

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11

The anointing at Bethany stops me in my tracks each year. For much of the liturgical year the lectionary leads us through the teaching and miracles of Jesus. From time to time we have a personal encounter: Zacchaeus, the Syro-Phoenecian woman, the Samaritan woman etc. Each encounter is life-changing.

Today’s text from John 12 always shifts the focus for me. Here at Bethany Jesus is amongst friends. He has shared his life with them. He has been more than a teacher and a worker of miracles. And then, at this crowded gathering, Mary does one of the most intimate things recorded in the Gospels. In all love and reverence she kneels at his feet, pouring out perhaps the most costly thing she had. She doesn’t speak. She shows her love in a silent action. We are left to imagine how Jesus experiences her love and reverence.

I find Janet Morley’s writing helpful here:

My cup was spilling with betrayal,
but she has filled it with wine;
my face was wet with fear,
but she has anointed me with oil,
and my hair is damp with myrrh.
The scent of her love surrounds me;
it is more than I can bear.
She has touched me with authority;
in her hands I find strength.
For she acts on behalf of the broken,
and her silence is the voice of the unheard.
Though many murmur against her, I will praise her;
and in the name of the unremembered,
I will remember her.

(All Desires Known)

Can you picture yourself in the scene?

What do you see?

Listen to Miriam’s Story
Read Ps 118 and Mark 11:1-11

Imagine that you are part of the crowd.
What do you see? What do you hear?

Miriam sings Ps 118, longing for the Messiah to come.
What do you long for as Holy Week begins?

Image © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used with permission. 

Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56

Each morning he wakes me to hear,
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.

As we begin Holy Week the Church invites us on a journey. This week is like no other in the year. The Church tells her story in words and images, in ritual and drama, and in silence and song. We are invited to find ourselves in the scriptural stories.

The First Reading for today from Isaiah 50 can be a helpful starting place for the week. The servant knows himself as a disciple. Each day his task is to hear what God is saying. God has already created in him an openness and a readiness. God has opened the servant’s ear. I hear this as promise that God will speak to us.

Make a conscious effort this week to listen to God in the scriptures and those around you.

What do you most want to hear?

Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever.  

We have met the prophet Ezekiel already during Lent. Woven together with warnings and reminders of just how much Israel has strayed are some of the most memorable prophecies of hope in all of the prophetic literature. Today we hear a promise of gathering together and of unity. Israel has suffered the hardship of being scattered physically in Exile. It had also suffered a kind of fracturing of the heart as it left behind all that it held dear in life and worship. God’s promise is far-reaching and will heal their inner and outer fragmentation. God offers them a covenant of peace.

Covenants are two-way. Israel has her part to play in this new stage of her relationship with God. What is asked is faithfulness in every area of their lives. Nothing is outside God’s remit.

How do you hear Ezekiel’s prophecy of hope?

Jeremiah 20:10-13
John 10:31-42

As we get closer to Holy Week there is a sense of growing tension in every encounter that Jesus has. He is challenged on every level and his responses only add to the confusion of his hearers. Today he makes a very simple appeal: if you don’t believe in me, at least believe in what I am doing.

If I am not doing my Father’s work,
there is no need to believe me;
but if I am doing it,
then even if you refuse to believe in me,
at least believe in the work I do;
then you will know for sure
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’

The complexity of so many situations in the world today has focused our attention on governments and their leaders. I think there are many who serve us in public office who would want us to believe in them. We’ve grown weary of some styles of leadership and are less than impressed with what they do. In short, we don’t believe in them or what they do.

The words of Jesus challenge us to live in such a way that others can see God at work in us. Sometimes this will be through the practical things that we do. Sometimes it will be through the subtlety of inner work. One can help the other.

How can you live so that others can see God’s work in you?

Genesis 17:3-9
Psalm 104(105):4-9
John 8:51-59

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Using the responsorial psalm verse as a repeated prayer or mantra can often be a very helpful way into the Liturgy of the Word. It’s especially helpful today as the theme of covenant links our readings. God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to God is the foundational to the story of our salvation. We can trace a path through the Scriptures of God’s desire to reach out in love to the whole of humanity.

In the first reading from Genesis God pledges his faithfulness to Abraham:

I will establish my Covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Time and time again God will remind the people of Israel of this bond.

In the Gospel today Jesus confounds his hearers by declaring ‘before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ The Pharisees hear this literally. What Jesus is saying is that every covenantal promise made to Abraham and every generation thereafter comes to fulfilment in Him. This is blasphemy to their ears. It’s easy to scapegoat the Pharisees and pat ourselves on the back because we can grasp what Jesus is saying. The invitation to the Pharisees and to us today is one and the same: live lives of faithfulness and love that the world may believe.

In the remaining days of Lent how can you live in faithfulness?  

Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28
John 8:31-42 

In much of John’s Gospel Jesus speaks to people who struggle to understand him. He speaks figuratively and his hearers assume he is being concrete. We, however, are so used to quotations from the Gospels and usually can grasp their meaning.

‘If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.’

From our vantage point, the quotation from today’s Gospel could be seen as the Gospel in microcosm:

inhabit the Scriptures,
grow in discipleship,
learn the truth,
experience freedom.

Our starting place is so clear. Get to know the Scriptures, make them your home and feel at home with them. This is a very personal journey. In every page of the Scriptures God speaks to our hearts.

Use your Bible today. Find your favourite quotations.

What is God saying to you today?