Missing the Big Picture - April 4

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35; Exod. 4:10-20(21-26)27-31; 1 Cor. 14:1-19; Mark 9:30-41

The disciples are arguing about greatness after Jesus has just shared about being killed and rising again.  Jesus tells them about his death, and they are fighting about who gets to sit where.  They are like middle school kids with their minds in a totally different world than the person talking to them, missing once again the big picture.  By focusing on the end result, they have missed the big picture once again. 

I’m reading Today’s Gospel with Lent in mind.  We understand this season of forty days as preparation for the gift of Easter.  During our Ash Wednesday service, when the season of Lent begins, a statement of Lent was shared with the congregation gathered.   An explanation of the custom of preparing through a season of penitence and fasting was given.  The conclusion of the statement follows, “I invite you…to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial, and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.” Lent is a journey of death and denial in order to rise again. 

Today, I am left wondering how not to fall into the same trap.  If Easter is some solution to death, limited to our own life and existence, a goal or end result of right belief and correct orthodoxy, then have fallen into the same trap? Or is Easter what we experience when the fullness of the Lenten journey shapes and molds our life to an ethic of compassion and virtuous living? 

What are your hopes for the gift of Easter as we begin this fifth week in the season of Lent? May our Christian life possibly be more about the journey than the end result?

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How does Lent shape your faith?  Do you have certain practices specifically for Lent?  What happens to those practices when Easter arrives?

Daily Challenge:  There are a number of special offerings during Holy Week.  Pick one that is not usual for you and attend a service.  Here are the offerings at Saint Stephen’s.