Reading the Gospels for Lent

 

Read Matthew 25-27

 

As Jesus continues to preach and teach, he tells two parables about being good stewards of time, talent, and treasure.  In the first, it is about managing your oil; and in the second, it is about managing what is entrusted to you by someone else.  Recall that parables are not supposed to be easily understood.  They should provoke questions and cause us to scratch/shake our heads.  What questions do you have after reading the two parables?  I wonder about what metaphorical oil in my life am I not managing well?  This could be my energy or relationships or even how I care for my body.  What about talents that I hide ~ perhaps because of fear or frustration or feeling misunderstood?  These parables are the climax of Jesus’ teaching right before the last night of his life.  How is the timing, that he is talking about these right before he will face the cross color how you read these stories? 

Then Jesus is anointed by a woman with a costly jar of perfume.  We have heard this story before about how Jesus smells like the cosmetic department of Macy’s as he approaches the last night of his life.  The heartbreaking irony is that even as Jesus says what the beloved daughter of God did for him will be remembered and proclaimed (26:13), we don’t get her name!!  But what if, this is intentional?  What if the beloved daughter are the fiercely faithful women in our lives?  Who is that beloved daughter of God who anointed (e.g. blessed) you?  Could be your mother, sister, cousin, teacher, preacher, friend, or neighbor.  Name the women in your life who have showered you with the sacred.

In 26:26, we get the invitation to communion.  I invite you to go get some bread and juice/wine.  Or go get an animal cracker and grape.  Or go get any ordinary, everyday, in your cupboard right now element and take communion.  What does it mean to you that Jesus would offer gifts of God’s love to the very “friends” who will desert, deny, and even betray him?  When we talk about unconditional love, Jesus embraces and embodies this at the Last Supper and we are called to the same ethic/way of life every time we come to the table of Christ.

Finally, compare Matthew’s Good Friday story to John’s.  In John, Jesus seems to be in charge and control to the very end.  Directing the beloved disciple to take care of Mary and even saying, “It is finished” as he breathes his last breath (John 19:30).  But in Matthew, there is pain, Jesus quotes Psalm 22, “My God, why have you forsaken me!!”  There is anguish and even anger in those words.  Hold the tension here.  Sometimes amid pain, we find strength and other times we struggle to just put one foot in front of the other.  Moments of pain are often because someone or something is dying.  We come to the cross open to God who suffers out of a love that will never let us go.  Let the good news of this story be woven into your story today. Amen.