Quinquagesima Sunday 14.2.21 Saving the world
Instead He brought no change on the political landscape, only offering them a new way of life. He saved the people where they needed it, but mostly did not recognize.
The real need is for the transformation of the human heart. It would be easier to fight the Roman army than do this!
Attitudes harden like weeds, and they are hard to pull out.
Nevertheless it can be done, and Our Lord has been doing it ever since, through the power of His saving death, and the grace which flows from that.
How to save a world. It is not just politics and economics; nor can it be done just by dialogue and compromise. It takes repentance from the heart. It requires a vision of the human person as more than just physical or material. The solution is essentially spiritual.
The One who has saved the world demonstrates for us. He allowed Himself to be taken, tortured and crucified. That looks like a funny way to save the world.
It looks like defeat not victory, and what is the good of being dead?
As to death, the grave could not hold the Son of God (Ac 13,35).
The apostles heard His prediction but could not get past the reference to death. They forgot that He had predicted resurrection.
As to looking like defeat, victory can come in different forms. It might look something else besides victory, but if God's will is being advanced, that is the point.
It might look like defeat, or as though nothing is happening; but if it is what God wants, watch out.
Our Lord was doing things that no one understood, except His Mother.
She would have encouraged her Son to stay on the cross; she understood the deeper level.
She had the spiritual perception that we all need.
We need saving from the blindness that keeps us imprisoned in only worldly thinking.
Then we can discern the will of God and let Him use His full power to save us.
All of us, individually and communally, will converge on the will of God and experience victory.
A good disciple will believe whatever Our Lord says, even before there is any evidence for it.
We come to a point that we trust God for anything.
Is our faith strong enough now, even though we know the story? We have two thousand years advantage over the apostles. Have we made any progress?
We are tempted to take up false beliefs. There are so many of them around. None of them can save us. They might address some part of the truth but never hit on the exact answer.
We are tempted to let our faith cool off over time. Again and again we reaffirm that we believe the events surrounding Our Lord’s life are the central thread that makes sense of the whole of human history.
We believe the past and we believe the future. God delivers on His promises as history teaches, and as we will see further yet.
We are tempted to resentment of God's way. He may not be acting quickly enough for us. We remember Good Friday, and how appearances can deceive.
We are tempted to kill Him again, or at least ignore Him. Instead we seek Him out, and fully embrace what He puts before us.
The Cross comes before Resurrection. The Cross may look like it is the last thing, but it is really only the introduction - to eternity.
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