Extra troops are posted on every corner but in spite of having a partner with you, you’re nervous because God only knows what those radicals with their knives will do. So every Palestinian man becomes a suspect. And the city’s mobbed. Even on high alert, they don’t notice the Nazarene and his followers climbing the stairs to the second story.
The scruffy looking men following Jesus are just as nervous. For the last several days they’ve been hearing the man they left their homes and businesses to follow talk about something they really don’t understand but which doesn’t sound good, and it’s pretty clear that the temple authorities are just waiting for the right time.
We’re supposed to be celebrating freedom but the Caesars of the world just squeeze us dry. They think, where are the voices of freedom and justice? How is it that we can answer unbridled power? How to bring it to its knees? Eating bitter herbs, they shudder, fearing what will happen next. Did Judas leave to pay the owner for this room?
Prayer for the Day
Knowing that sad times must be remembered, O God,
As well as those of gladness; we come to you this day;
Celebrating the new community given to us this day, O Lord,
We try to live in a new way even as we are fearful.
Give us hope in the midst of darkness, joy in the midst of sadness,
As we struggle to be your witnesses in the world.
In the name of the One who is always with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, philosopher (1623-1662)
There is no amount of darkness that can extinguish the inner light. The important thing is not to spend our lives trying to control the environment around us. The task is to control the environment within us.
Joan Chittister, OSB, writer
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assai me to devour my flesh –
My adversaries and foes – they shall stumble and fall.
Psalm 27:1-2