11 April 2017 - dark night of glory

[ Today's Readings ]

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

This can happen. Things can get bad and dark. It can get to a point where our efforts appear to have been a waste of time.

So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

Things can look very dark indeed. Judas betrays Jesus. Even Peter denies him. There is almost no one to stand by him in his most painful moments. He definitely feels this abandonment just as we often do. Though we ourselves compound things in our dark times because we are not perfectly obedient as Jesus is. We bring some of the darkness down on our own heads and so we often assume that our suffering is merely our just desserts. But we can choose to take the perspective of Jesus when he is faced with darkness.
When he had left, Jesus said,
"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.

Jesus knows that his cross glorifies the Father. We too can embrace our crosses as ways to show the world that God is first in our lives. Even if, like Peter, we don't succeed at first, Jesus is always willing to give us another chance. When we recognize in our crosses not arbitrary happenstance nor mere punishment which we deserve but rather a mysterious purpose in God's plan we are able to endure them courageously and with hope.

And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!

Jesus is glorified even on the Cross, even on Good Friday, before Easter dawns and before the Resurrection. When he is lifted up he draws all peoples to himself. It can be like this with us if we embrace our crosses for the kingdom.

For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother's womb you are my strength.

We can do so assured that Easter Sunday is on the way.

My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.