Thursday, 3/30Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. “But wanting to justify himself…” It’s easy to pass over those words in the middle of today’s passage. Yet they may be the most important part of this exchange. That little phrase lets us know that this lawyer’s question for Jesus is accompanied by deep fear and anxiety. He knows the Law is righteous; he knows, too, that he is not. So he comes to Jesus seeking a chance to justify himself. Lent is not a time for justifying ourselves. Lent is not a time for following all the little rules as closely and carefully as we can. Lent is a time to discipline and train our bodies and souls as we learn to live as justified women and men. Lent is a time when, recalling our own mortality and our own constant need for repentance, we can begin to live into the freedom of Christ’s life, and the justification that he has won for us. - Anonymous Today's |