Hard to Believe

Scripture – Mark 10:28-34: ²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” ²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” ³²They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ³³“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

Reflection: This is the third time Jesus has talked about what would happen to Him when they got to Jerusalem. He did all He could to prepare these disciples for that experience. Yet it was still something beyond their imaginations.

I like to think I would have done better than them. In fact, it’s easy to read some of these stories, laugh at them and wonder how they could miss who Jesus was. I forget that I have the great advantage of knowing the whole story – at least as recorded in the Bible. These people were right there with a real flesh and blood person who was telling them things that didn’t fit with any other experience they’d known.

Lord, teach me to be patent with people and to look at life from their point of view. Thank you for going to Jerusalem- to the cross. While I would have had a hard time believing you then, I believe you now.

An Invitation: For anyone interested in sharing their personal reflections from this week’s readings, you are invited to come by the Tim Hortons donut shop at Dix-Toledo and Northline in Southgate tomorrow morning at 9:45am. We’ll have a cup of coffee and see what the Lord has been teaching us this week.

Reading for Sunday, March 9:

Scripture – Mark 10:35-40: ³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” ³⁶“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. ³⁷They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” ³⁸“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” ³⁹“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, ⁴⁰but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”