25th Week, Friday, Sept 24
Haggai 1:15 - 2:9 / Luke 9:18-22
***
In difficult situations, how often do we recall that God is indeed with us? "A branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so ... without Me, you can do nothing." John 15:4-5
***
The prophet Haggai exhorts the Jews after their return from the exile to give everything, even their silver and gold, for the reconstruction of the Temple. Then the living God will be present among them and he will give them peace.
***
There is this rather serious question, but the answer is rather funny. The question is: How to avoid getting stressed at work? The answer: Don't go to work. Whether we find that funny or not, work is serious business. That's where we get our livelihood, that's where we do something meaningful, that's where we keep ourselves busy and occupied and find fulfilment. So, whether work is stressful or not, it depends on how we take it. But one thing for sure is that work is hard. There is something about work in the 1st reading and it is given as a short and sharp command: To work!
Through the prophet Haggai, God is telling His people to get down to work. What work? It was the work of rebuilding the Temple. And it was going to be really hard work to rebuild the Temple that was going to be more glorious than the former Temple.
And God wanted the Temple to be rebuilt, and He was going to supply the people all the gold and silver and whatever was necessary. So why the urgency then? The Lord of hosts speaks: The new glory of this Temple is going to surpass the old, and in this place, I will give peace.
So the Temple was going to be a symbol and a channel of peace for the people. But they must work for it. So too, whatever our work is, whatever we are working for, wherever we are working, let us also work hard for peace. To work for peace is the meaning and fulfilment of our lives. And the Lord will give us whatever we need to achieve that. So let us get down to it and work hard for peace.
***
The whole of Luke so far, chapters 3-9, prepared these two questions. Who do the people say that I am? and: Who do you say? Peter alone answers: You are the Christ of God. This was an important point reached. Now revelation goes one step further. The people's idea was wrong, the apostles at least insufficient. The Messiah is the suffering servant of God, as foretold by Isaiah. He is the man of sorrow, the lamb led to the slaughter, who suffers for the sins of all. Jesus now astonishes with the first announcement of the passion. The son of man must suffer grievously. He will not be the glorious messiah of national greatness and welfare. He will be rejected by the elders, the legislative, the high priests, the religious executive and the intelligentsia, interpreters of the word of God. These will put him to death. He will die as the sacrifice for the life of the world. If this was not already too difficult to understand, he adds the incomprehensible: "and be raised on the third day".
***
Jesus asks of each of us today not what others say about him but who he is for us and what he means to us. The answer he is waiting for has not to consist in long declarations but the living response of our lives.
***
Opening Prayer
God our Father, your Son Jesus asks of us today: “Who am I for you?” Forgive us our stammering words, but this we can say with grateful love: We thank you that you have shown us in him how good you are and how much you love us. We thank you that he appeared in all the frailty of our own humanity and that by his death and resurrection you have brought us forgiveness and life. Let him be the meaning of our lives, for he is Jesus our Saviour and our Lord forever. Amen
