Word for the Season
Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart...
Joel 2:12
Word for the Day
Joel 2:12
Word for the Day
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
"What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?"
They paid him thirty pieces of silver...
When it was evening,
Jesus reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
"Surely it is not I, Lord?"
He said in reply,
"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me..."
It would be better for that man if he had never been born."
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"
He answered, "You have said so..."
(see today's readings for Matthew 26)
went to the chief priests and said,
"What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?"
They paid him thirty pieces of silver...
When it was evening,
Jesus reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
"Surely it is not I, Lord?"
He said in reply,
"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me..."
It would be better for that man if he had never been born."
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"
He answered, "You have said so..."
(see today's readings for Matthew 26)
Reflection
On the night before he died,
Jesus was betrayed
by the worst in us all...
It's easy to point the finger at Judas,
in fact it's too easy...
Each of us at one time or another
plays one of the roles in the story
of the suffering and death of Jesus
and that includes the role of Judas
who betrayed his Lord...
Prayer
I return to you today, Lord,
with a heart aware of how I have betrayed you
in thought, in word, in deed
and in my failure to think, to speak, to act...
You are my Lord but you are also
my brother, my companion and my friend
and many are the ways I am unfaithful
to you and all you offer me...
Sometimes I plot, if not against you,
then against the grace and goodness
you never cease to offer me...
Some days, some nights I fail to honor
the love in which you hold me,
the embrace with which you protect me,
the strength with which you shield me...
Judas was bold in what he did, Lord:
my betrayals are often born
of my weak and fickle heart...
I don't want to face the fact
that I betray you, Lord, but I do -
and I pray for your mercy on me, a sinner...
Make me faithful to you,
to your word and wisdom
and to the steadfast love
you never fail to offer me...
I trust you, Lord,
and pray you will trust me
to return to you this Lent, day by day,
with my whole heart...
Amen. 2009LentPostCollection
Image: Gwen Meharg
Jesus was betrayed
by the worst in us all...
It's easy to point the finger at Judas,
in fact it's too easy...
Each of us at one time or another
plays one of the roles in the story
of the suffering and death of Jesus
and that includes the role of Judas
who betrayed his Lord...
Prayer
I return to you today, Lord,
with a heart aware of how I have betrayed you
in thought, in word, in deed
and in my failure to think, to speak, to act...
You are my Lord but you are also
my brother, my companion and my friend
and many are the ways I am unfaithful
to you and all you offer me...
Sometimes I plot, if not against you,
then against the grace and goodness
you never cease to offer me...
Some days, some nights I fail to honor
the love in which you hold me,
the embrace with which you protect me,
the strength with which you shield me...
Judas was bold in what he did, Lord:
my betrayals are often born
of my weak and fickle heart...
I don't want to face the fact
that I betray you, Lord, but I do -
and I pray for your mercy on me, a sinner...
Make me faithful to you,
to your word and wisdom
and to the steadfast love
you never fail to offer me...
I trust you, Lord,
and pray you will trust me
to return to you this Lent, day by day,
with my whole heart...
Amen. 2009LentPostCollection
Image: Gwen Meharg
-ConcordPastor
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