Second Sunday in Lent – C4

Second Sunday in Lent – C4

Years C
Luke 13:31-35

We don't see the best in people (call it Jesus, if you will) until we say, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the best." There are a myriad of saints around and about, but we don't recognize them for being caught up in warning others or self-censoring so we will stay out of trouble or . . . .

Our expectations are a huge driver in what we are able to perceive. Are the Pharisees warning Jesus for his sake or their own? We know Jesus has wandered away for a season now and then. Sometimes for regeneration, sometimes to take the heat off so a beheading doesn't come his way. Why not now say, "Thanks" and take a prayer break. Is the downhill run from transfiguration to crucifixion so far along that its momentum can't be broken? If so, what does that say about choice?

Here it might be seen that Jesus is picking a fight with those who have come to warn. Surely it would be good to not automatically pigeon-hole Pharisees as terrorists: never having compassion, always being hyper-doctrinaire.

Even though there is a hair-trigger on this response from Jesus, we do at least arrive at something more than pushing-back or self-pity.

It would be interesting to begin taking this last line about blessing and applying it to a series of other scenes in the scriptures and in our lives. Try it on the neighbor banging on the door for bread for guests. See how it works with Jesus' conversation with his fellow cross-hangers. What about encounters between Saul and David? Is this helpful in Edenic conversations?

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what time is it?
chronologically, that is
http://www.time.gov/
the clock is ticking
now to then

what time is it?
kairotically, that is
time to see and speak blessing
the clock is waiting
to start anew