Lent
March 26, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” just say this, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.” ’ — Mark 11:1-3

These verses have always make me think that a lot of thought and planning had gone into this trip. While Jesus appears to do random acts of kindness throughout his ministry, there is an undercurrent of purpose in each step he takes.

I coordinated planning for a large multi-functional human service agency for several years. What I learned in that time is that nothing ever goes exactly as planned and rarely are purposes met that are not planned. Most of our lives are spent doing what we might consider mundane, routine tasks that add up eventually to homes being purchased, children going to college, and ultimately, for example, cures for dread diseases being discovered.

Jesus’ purpose, I believe, was to initiate the Kingdom of God throughout the earth. There may have been several course corrections on his path to Jerusalem that day and even more to come over the next several days but he never wavered from his purpose.

We as his followers are the heirs to his plan. We share the same purpose: Loving our way toward the end that the Kingdom of God is actualized throughout the world. Let it be so.

Prayer: Lord, nurture us to love as you loved, open our hearts to your plan, and our brains and backs to your work. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.