Lent - Day 12

Lent - Day 12

From Living Well through Lent 2015, RT. Rev. Scott Hayashi

Mark 8:31-38

Jesus encountered many obstacles and barriers during his ministry. These included the people in his hometown, his family, the leaders of the Temple, Pharisees, the Roman Authorities, and his own disciples. The wonder of Jesus was that, in spite of this, he continued his mission.

In the gospel lesson for today, Peter takes jesus aside and rebukes him! One assumes that if Jesus had allowed this to go on, all of the disciples would have joined Peter to prevent Jesus continuing forward. jesus puts a stop to th is immediately. he has a purpose to fulfill, and not even Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus would build his church, will prevent him from completing his work.

Jesus is a model of resilience. He keeps on regardless of accident or injury. Jesus, no matter what the difficulty, fared forward.  Jesus was resilient because of (1) clarity of purpose, (2) self-awareness of his needs, and (3) attention to relationships with God and others. Like jesus, you and I, if we are going to be resilient, need to imitate Jesus, pattern our lives after his, and build or maintain the same three qualities and characteristics.