D.L.

FIRST SATURDAY 24th OF LENT

“At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
(Luke 13,31-35 NIV11-GKE)

Today, as you prepare for your day and set your minds for what this day will bring you, let us be thankful that Jesus, our Lord, did suffer persecution and much violence, and yet he stands firm and strong amidst much hatred. He is inviting us to gather, which is the challenge as we think about Sunday tomorrow. Will I be reluctant or ready to utter, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?

Lord, we don’t always understand what you’re up to, or why you went to die in that way. But we pray for strength to follow wherever you go, to be sheltered under your wings from all the evil that may come.¹

1. N.T. Wright, Lent for Everyone, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 24. ↩︎