“For the poor you have always with you, and whenever you want you can do good to them; but you do not always have me.”
Timing is everything in life, isn’t it.
I once heard that people never regret the things they did, only the things they didn’t do.
Unless of course they are extreme sins that ruin our life. Then we are either happy we did not partake or happy we did not do whatever it was that we shouldn’t be doing anyway.
Who will you not always have in your life?
I was inspired to move back to New York from California in the mid-1980s mainly because I, or we at the time, wanted our children to grow up knowing their grandparents. In reality it was a Godsend for me to get to know my father before he passed away less than seven years later. As fathers we connected and soberly celebrated most of all the good things in life during that short period of time. I will never forget him dancing with Mom and us on the pier in Southold on his 70th birthday for no particular reason other than we heard music playing and our family, all our family loved life. I am going to incorporate one of his patented golf swing dance moves in my upcoming Dancing With The Stars competition.
Life is too short and we can’t buy another minute, can we?
How many times I have I made pledges to God, myself, and others and within 24 hours broken those promises?
Not often I would say and then hope that is true.
Otherwise I am in denial, justification, and rationalization.
I would be going in the wrong direction, going farther away from Jesus and God and The Holy Spirit within me and not even be aware of it.
Our subconscious minds. Satan and evil are very powerful and deceitful too.
If we are honest with ourselves and God we are all sinners.
Just think, even Peter, close to Christ did the same thing denying he knew Jesus three times.
Thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. This is one of them. Surely thou art one of them, for thou art also a Galilean.
No, No, No. Then Peter began to curse and swear and said “I do not know this man you are talking about.” And at that moment a cock crowed a second time. And he began to weep.
Sometimes all we can do is cry and feel our raw emotions. No need to react. No need to fix. Just time for self-care and seeking the support and love of other human beings. Or sometimes we cry alone with our God maybe as Jesus did that night like he did for Lazarus.
“Take, this is my body.”
“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed for many.”
And after reciting a hymn…
As a good Jew, at the Last Supper, Jesus would have sung the following words:
The snares of death encompassed me, the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD; “O LORD, I beg you, save my life!”… For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I walk before the LORD in the land of the living…
What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD… O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving…
…they went out to the Mount of Olives
“You will all be scandalized this night for it is written.”
“Amen I say to thee, today, this very night, before a cock crows twice, thou will deny me three times.”
Even if I should have to die with thee, I will not deny thee! And they all said the same thing.
And they came to a country place called Gethsemani.
And Jesus began to feel dread and to be exceedingly troubled.
“My soul is sad, even unto death. Wait here and watch.”
“Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee. Remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou willest.”
Returning to the disciples, “couldst thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But it is so the Scriptures could be fulfilled.
My flesh is weak at times. My self-will, discipline and self-control limited at times.
And a certain young man was following him, having a linen cloth wrapped about his naked body, and they seized him. But leaving the linen cloth behind, he fled away from them naked.
Note this passage about a naked young man was included after the statement that the Scriptures were fulfilled.
Nobody knows who he was yet his brief story was included and for what reason?
Was he afraid? Then when was he following Jesus and taking the risk of being assumed to be with Jesus and being seized? He was afraid enough to run away.
Maybe that is us just being curious. When the bells at the fire station went off I used to run up there and read the ticker tape to find out where the fire was. I was interested and curious about fires since my Dad was a city fireman. Once I wanted to include a charred out building on my HO train landscape and nearly burned the house down.
Maybe if we just share our fears or curiosities with Christ we won’t have to run away from them or towards them.
Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were seeking witness against Jesus, that they night put him to death, but they found none. For while many bore false witness against him, their evidence did not agree.
But he kept silence, and made no answer.
Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?
“I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
I believe that.
Day 48: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Naked & Afraid in the Garden of Gethsemani, Singing with Jesus!
Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint Mark Chapter 14.
Bible Notes:
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
Saint Mark, a convert of Saint Peter, was the son of a certain Mary, whose house in Jerusalem was a gathering place for Christians.
His Gospel, based on Saint Peter’s preaching, aims to prove to the Gentiles the divinity of Christ, be recounting His numerous miracles and examples of His power over devils.
Matthew Chapter 14: The council; The anointing at Bethany; Jesus defends the woman; The betrayal; Preparation for the Passover; The betrayer; The Holy Eucharist; Peter’s denials predicted; The agony in the garden; Jesus finds three sleeping; Jesus arrested; Peter draws his sword; All His disciples flee; Jesus before the Sanhedrin; The high priest questions Christ; Jesus s condemned and abused; Peter’s denial.
How they might seize him by stealth and put him to death.
“For the poor you have always with you, and whenever you want you can do good to them; but you do not always have me.”
And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the high priests to betray him (Jesus) to them.
“Where is my guest chamber, that I may eat the Passover there with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready for us (to eat the Passover).”
“But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It were better for that man if he had not been born.”
“Take, this is my body.”
“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is being shed for many.”
And after reciting a hymn…
As a good Jew, at the Last Supper, Jesus would have sung the following words:
The snares of death encompassed me, the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD; “O LORD, I beg you, save my life!”… For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I walk before the LORD in the land of the living…
What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD… O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving… (Psalm 116:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 16-17)
Reference: The Sacred Page
They went out to the Mount of Olives
“You will all be scandalized this night for it is written.”
“Amen I say to thee, today, this very night, before a cock crows twice, thou will deny me three times.”
Even if I should have to die with thee, I will not deny thee! And they all said the same thing.
And they came to a country place called Gethsemani
And he (Jesus) began to feel dread and to be exceedingly troubled.
“My soul is sad, even unto death. Wait here and watch.”
“Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee. Remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou willest.”
“Couldst thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But it is so the Scriptures could be fulfilled.
And a certain young man was following him, having a linen cloth wrapped about his naked body, and they seized him. But leaving the linen cloth behind, he fled away from them naked.
Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were seeking witness against Jesus, that they night put him to death, but they found none. For while many bore false witness against him, their evidence did not agree.
But he kept silence, and made no answer.
Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?
“I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
And they all condemned him as liable to death.
Thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth
This is one of them.
Surely thou art one of them, for thou art also a Galilean.
But he (Peter) began to curse and swear. I do not know this man you are talking about. And at that moment a cock crowed a second time. And he began to weep.
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