Psalm
120 – “I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my
prayer. Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all
deceitful people” (120:1-2). David speaks of the people around him as people who hate
peace. Just imagine what it would be like to be a ruler in these days with
attacks coming from all sides and having to deal with them.
“I am tired of living among people who hate
peace. I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war” (120:6-7).
Psalm
121 – Famous words: “I look up to the mountains –
does my help come from there? My help will come from the Lord who made heaven
and earth” (121:1-2). The Lord is our protection and our refuge.
“The sun will not harm you by day, nor the
moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life”
(121:6-7).
Psalm
122 – “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go
to the house of the Lord.’ And now here we are, standing inside your gates, O
Jerusalem” (122:1-2). Jerusalem – a city restored and harmonious, a city where
all the Jewish tribes come to give thanks and where the king sits to judge his
people.
“May all who love this city prosper. O
Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces”
(122:6-7)
Psalm
123 – “I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in
heaven” (123:1). We look up to the heavens to encounter the Lord. We beg for
his mercy so that we may be comforted when we have been treated ill by others.
It is a little difficult to see ourselves in
the roles mentioned in this psalm – “servants” with their eyes on their
“master” or “slave girl[s]” watching their mistress, but we all have people we
look to “to see us” and “empathize” with us.
Matthew
26 - Jesus predicts that he will be handed over in
two days to be crucified. Jewish leaders consult about how to arrest and
destroy him.
Meanwhile in Bethany, Jesus is staying with Simon the leper and a
woman pours expensive ointment on him.
The disciples scold her for waste, but Jesus defends her. “The poor you
will always have with you; but you will not always have me” (26:11).
Judas betrays him to the chief priests for 30
pieces of silver. Jesus and his disciples prepare to celebrate the
Passover. At dinner, Jesus tells
them one of them will betray him and they are all disturbed. Judas even dares
to deny it is he.
The last supper (26:26-46) is thought to have
been held on a Thursday. Seders were held on Friday evening, but Jesus perhaps knew
he would be taken on Friday.
Essenes followed a solar calendar and always celebrated Passover on a
Tuesday night. “From now on . . .I
shall not drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the Kingdom
of my Father” (26:29).
Then they go to the Mount of Olives where
Jesus predicts they will all “run away and leave me” (26:31). Peter assures
Jesus “I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!” (26:33) Oh, Peter, you
are so like me – so sure of yourself, so wanting to be the one loyal one, the
one dependable one – but you (and I) are so like the rest – so unpredictable.
Jesus goes off to pray and be alone with God.
“Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, ‘The sorrow in my heart
is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me”
(26:37-38). I think we can all of us relate to this moment. We have all been
“crushed” with sorrow in our lives. How comforting it is to know that the great
God I love KNOWS my experience.
Jesus asks his friends to “keep watch” with him, but of course, for all
their proclamations of love and loyalty, they go off and go to sleep while he
is in the deepest pit of misery. This is his agony in the garden. He prays three times while his
disciples—Peter, James and John—sleep
Lord, that you should sorrow on my
account is painful to me even now.
Forgive me for all the times I have denied you or slept when your Spirit
called to me.
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