The Son of Man came to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many. MK 10:45
1 PETER 1:18-25 ©
My Soul’s Beloved,
I was purchased, the ransom for my life was paid in the precious blood of the Lamb without stain or blemish and this is why my life is no longer my own. It is yours, my Lord and my God.
You are the Word of God that leaped down from the bosom of the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit who came down on the Virgin Mother, You O Lord became incarnate. She gave You a Body that You could offer as a whole, burnt offering in a fragrant and pleasing Sacrifice for the salvation of every man, woman, and child born of woman. We can no longer claim that we belong to ourselves we are now Yours O Lord to do with as You will.
You came to show us the Way to the Father. You came to give us the Holy Spirit. You came to baptize us into Your Body so we can receive the free gift of faith that will be the light to our path and a lamp to our feet that will direct our way along the narrow and difficult path to our Father’s house. You have shown us by example the shortest and easiest route to our eternal home, it is by obedience to the truth. Only by abiding in the truth O Lord fearlessly and boldly can we hope to receive the inheritance that You won for us on the Cross.
May we never forget: Death will come like a thief in the night may we not be caught off guard and be ready and awake when we are summoned into Your Presence at the end of life’s journey.
All flesh is grass and its glory like the wild flower’s. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains for ever. What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
PSALM 147:12-15, 19-20 ©
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
MARK 10:32-45 ©
My Soul’s Beloved,
It is Your final journey, You spent three years with the Apostles You hand-picked and You are preparing them for what is to come. Their minds cannot accept nor understand what You are saying. You reveal clearly what awaits You in Jerusalem and they are unwilling to comprehend the awful reality of Your impending suffering and death. St. Mark says that they were in a daze and they were apprehensive about what You had said:
‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans, who will mock him and spit at him and scourge him and put him to death; and after three days he will rise again.’
Yet, O Lord, human nature when not bridled reveals its self-absorption. Before anyone else pips them at the post they come to You to lobby for the prime positions at Your right and left in the Kingdom.
‘Master, we want you to do us a favour.’ He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.’
You remind them that the road to God’s Kingdom is not easy:
‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I must drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I must be baptised you shall be baptised, but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.’
As is typical of human nature, the rest of the Apostles were indignant when they heard the two brothers plotting for the best places. Even though Your heart was full of the knowledge of what awaited You at Jerusalem, You chided them gently, as the father gently corrects his children.
‘You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
This is key for all who desire to be Your disciples, Beloved. We are to remember that our highest call is to serve. We are to serve with love - humbly, willingly, obediently, and gladly. When we stand before You, the righteous Judge, we will be judged on how well we have loved.
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