This Lent we follow Jesus as he faces evil in the hours before his death. What is evil? Who is doing evil against Jesus during Passion Week? What are ways in which we are complicit in evil? Do we take evil seriously? As we experience evil in our own lives, discover how Jesus stands in the face of evil.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, stay with me. There is evil within me, and I am so often attentive to it. I am easily overcome by my own desire to get away from you and be free to have everything I want and to do everything I want. Lord, give me the real freedom of your life in me. By your victory over temptation, make me victorious. By the power of your love make me strong. Amen. (from The Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH, 1970)
Word
Luke 22:67
“‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ But he said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe…”
Meditation: Great or Good by Megan Roegner
I’ve taught The Odyssey to high school sophomores for more than 10 years. One of the things we always talk about is what defines heroism, and whether this definition has changed since the time of the ancient Greeks. This past fall, my students began digging into the difference between greatness and goodness. Heroes, in the classic sense, are always great: They are stronger, faster, smarter, richer, more famous and/or more attractive than the normal person. But they often aren’t good. Take Odysseus, for example. He did amazing things, but he also murdered, lied, deceived, stole, cheated on his wife, and was almost catastrophically proud. He wasn’t good.
My students almost universally acknowledged that goodness is preferable to greatness. In our relationships with others we want honesty, kindness, respect, trustworthiness, and integrity. Yet, oftentimes the leaders we follow, by chance or by choice, lack these qualities or even show the opposite. The path to leadership of any kind is often rife with temptations to lose sight of goodness in the pursuit of greatness.
After Jesus is arrested, he is brought to the council of Jewish leaders, including the chief priests and scribes. These men, who had studied the Scriptures for almost their whole lives, could not recognize Jesus as the Christ, and, in fact, saw him as a threat to their own power. Perhaps it was because it is hard to believe that a prophecy is unfolding before your very eyes. Maybe it was because Jesus provided a radical model of leadership that undermined classic conceptions of authority: Power that is both strong and gentle; leadership that gives instead of takes.
“If you are the Christ, tell us.”
“If I tell you, you will not believe…”
Jesus tells us clearly who he is, who we are, and how we are to treat others in his name. It is the path of service, sacrifice, and humility, not of self-centered greatness. And yet, how often do we not truly believe that this is how we, and our heroes, should behave?
I am frequently frustrated by the hypocritical leaders I see, who say they want goodness but act in pursuit of greatness. Power in human hands is too often corrosive. But then I look around and see so many people in my own community quietly leading lives of humility and kindness. These are the people I look to when I need a reminder of what it means to be a follower of Christ. We can’t all be great or the word loses its meaning. But every person can pursue goodness, believing Jesus when he tells us who he is and how we should be.
Dear Jesus, thank you for being a servant leader. Thank you for being both great and good. Help us to lead lives of service in your name. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.