Lent, Day 17: WARN

Recite the Primo Credo Today in the Morning and in the Evening:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
~Mark 12:29-31

Today, on the Seventeenth Day of Lent, we continue to discuss the Primo Credo. We have been meditating on it over the Lenten period leading up to Resurrection (Easter) Sunday; and we have been trying to remember to recite it daily, once in the morning and once again in the evening. For the last two and a half weeks, we have stressed the importance of intentionality; thinking, feeling, and meaning the words as we repeat them- not just hollowly reciting them. Our goal is to let the words work in us, and hopefully through us, and back out of us.

Today’s Scripture Reading:

All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.

They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed,

a time is coming when everyone who kills you

will think he is offering service to God.

They will do such things because

they have not known the Father or me.

I have told you these things so that when their hour comes

you will remember that I warned you.

John 16:1-4

 

He may not have waved a red flag, but he might as well have...

 

Jesus warned his disciples of a time that was not going to be so pretty. He did this immediately after telling them a bunch of other important information. Remember from previous posts,  that we learned that Jesus stressed (in John 15) to his disciples the importance of abiding in him and KEEPing his commandments. He used an analogy, describing himself as the VINE and admonishing his disciple to abide in his love, keep his commandments, walk in his ways, to love one another. He did this for a very important reason- he wanted them to understand that it is only by doing these things that they would be able to withstand the difficulties that were inevitable in their futures.

The same goes for us. Unless we stick with Jesus and stick with each other- we’re in for a bumpier ride than if we follow his battle strategy.

Jesus’ battle strategy involves solidarity.

A friend of mine likes to use the game Red Rover as an analogy of what Christian unity and solidarity looks like.

She aptly describes a scenario in which, if elbows are not linked and locked tightly, a fatal “break” occurs and we are vulnerable.

That is why Christian love is a command, not an option.

We do it to survive and to thrive as individuals, but more importantly, it is through our unity and solidarity that the Gospel moves forward (even in the face of personal injury or death- as was the case for the disciples).

Today, as you go throughout your day, may you meditate on Jesus’ Red Flag warning that love should be the tie that binds us, and may you reflect on ways in which you play “Red Rover” with your brothers and sisters in Christ.