From words to facts (S2E27)

Refreshing Bread

Meditation by Fr. Cristian Laslo In today’s Gospel we meet Jesus praying in Gethsemane garden, where He is found by Judah and the Temple’s guard. Through a kiss Jesus is identified, caught, and brought in front of a illegitimate court. They are bringing him false testimonies, but He doesn’t collaborate with the vicious men. Revealing Himself as the Son of God, they accuse Him of blasphemy, and they are sending him at the Roman authority. When we read the end of chapter 14 in the Gospel according to Mark, our heart can be filled with resentment against Jesus’ disciples. On the one hand is Judah, who for a few pennies betrays his Master, his friend, his brother. On the other hand most of the other apprentices, astonished and tired, fled. Peter has an salvific attempt, but he is appeased by Jesus. He also finds the courage to follow the crowd into the courtyard of the high priest, but here he will deny his Master too. Just like Job in his sufferings, Jesus could have said: “… my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me…” (Job 19, 13-14), or just like the Psalmist: “Thou hast caused my companions to shun me; thou hast made me a thing of horror to them” (Psalm 88, 8). He was left alone in front of this world’ rulers… Because they could not accuse him, malicious witnesses rise up; they asked of things that he knew not. They requite Him evil for good; His soul was forlorn. (cf. Psalm 35, 11-12). And yet, just as Daniel the prophet, He told them: “I saw in the night vision, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came on like a son of man and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him…” (Daniel 7, 13-14). For these words he was punished: “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (Isaiah 50, 6). And then “the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed” (Psalm 2, 2). The resentment seems justified, the hate against the traitor and cowards also. But us, as followers of Jesus through the Baptism, how do we defend Him against today’s judgments? Do we have the courage to sit next to him when He is betrayed? Do we dare to pull out the sword of love and understanding when He is attacked, spited and denigrated? How often are we preach Him in front of our family, friends, and of the whole world? Mark 14, 43 – 15, 1-2 Music: Lost Frontier by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)