Luke 9:43-45 NRSVue
43And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples,
44“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.” 45But they did not understand this saying; its meaning remained concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
This starts as a moment of triumph. /Everyone was amazed at all that Jesus
was doing/. Jesus sobers down the disciples with a solemn warning that he
would be betrayed. /Let these words sink into your ears/. He constantly calls
us out of our comfort zone, asks us to open our eyes compassionately to human
misery.
Reflection
Some of Jesus' words can make us a bit afraid, uneasy and challenged.
Anything to do with his death had this effect on those close to him and to
his disciples. We may find ourselves always going to favourite scripture.
These are generally words which are significant to us in our lives. These are
the sources and the groundstuff of our prayer. There is a time also for going
to the words of Jesus and the events of his life which we don't like, and let
ourselves be engaged in them with the Lord who is always loving and
compassionate.
Reflection
When we look at Jesus in prayer, we are looking at the one who will soon be
betrayed into the hands of his brothers and sisters, for all are brothers and
sisters to him. He would be betrayed by those who shared his background of
faith. It would be so awful that the listeners would not even ask him about
it. When we look at Jesus in prayer we look on the one who would go to death
for us, betrayed by one like us.
Reflection
Lord, when you mentioned the cross, you found it hard to get a hearing from
your own friends. They were afraid to ask you about betrayal. It was bad news
and did not square with their hopes of your triumph. Help me to let these
words sink into my ears.