In today’s first Scripture reading from Jeremiah, we hear the prophet describe the plot to kill him and “cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.” And in today’s Gospel, we hear the people’s ambivalence about Jesus; some believe in Him and some want to arrest Him.
In these last weeks of Lent, as we walk with Jesus to Calvary, our meditation on His Passion is more intense. And we can learn a lot from the way different people in the Passion narrative respond to violence.
Jesus is our way to peace; and he tells us we must be converted—we must first rid ourselves of the violence in our own hearts. In a world where the attitude is often “might is right,” Jesus calls us to let go of our sense of entitlement, our resentments, and our desire for revenge. When many relationships are often no more than contractual, we are called to surrender to loving and being loved unconditionally. When we are overcome with fear, we are called to trust.
O Lord, in you I take refuge”