Suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 Jesus endured such terrible suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 The Movie “The Passion” graphically displays that suffering and it makes all of us uncomfortable.\u00c2\u00a0 But, the real theme of today’s readings is not the suffering, but Obedience.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just as Isaiah had to be obedient and speak the Word of God no matter what happened to him, so Jesus had to be obedient and live out the life that God had ordained for him.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul put it well, that Jesus emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Passion demonstrates that it is hard to be obedient\u00c2\u00a0 It was hard for Jesus as well, as the agony in the garden attests.\u00c2\u00a0 Obedience to the will of God means accepting what God has in mind for us.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes, that’s the good times.\u00c2\u00a0 For me, my grandson’s birth a few weeks ago was a great time.\u00c2\u00a0 But, it also includes the bad times.\u00c2\u00a0 Like when my wife and I lost a son to crib death many years ago.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesus bore great suffering, but he did so for the love of his Father.\u00c2\u00a0 He was, above all else, obedient.\u00c2\u00a0 He took on our sins, and redeemed us all in the process, earning everlasting life for all of us.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s the point.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter what the suffering associated with our obedience, it’s worth it because the Kingdom of God and everlasting life are just on the other side.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
No matter who you are, you are ordained for both good times and bad times.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s our obedience to the will of God that counts.\u00c2\u00a0 We willfully accept and relish the good times.\u00c2\u00a0 But quite naturally, dread the suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet, everyone faces suffering and death.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone has illnesses, disabilities, limitations- physical and mental, poverty, and loneliness- something, whether it’s visible or not.\u00c2\u00a0 Even those who are seemingly always blessed- they are challenged to be good stewards of those blessings.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody is exempt from God’s challenge to do his will.<\/p>\n
I would ask you to reflect on today’s Gospel in a new light.\u00c2\u00a0 That no matter how dreadful the suffering was, Jesus bore it with dignity and obedience.\u00c2\u00a0 We are challenged to live his example and do the same.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0April 1, 2007 Palm Sunday Is 50:4-7; Phil 2: 6-11; Luke 24: 14 – 23:56 Dc. Larry Brockman Suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 Jesus endured such terrible suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 The Movie “The Passion” graphically displays that suffering and it makes all of us uncomfortable.\u00c2\u00a0 But, the real theme of today’s readings is not the suffering, but Obedience.\u00c2\u00a0 Just as Isaiah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}