Self Defense
Wednesday in the Holy Week
Preparing the readings today, I am drawn to dwell on the words of response for the Psalm: “Lord, in your great love, answer me.” Filipinos call these days Mahal na Araw, which means “Dear or Precious Days.” These days are indeed precious days because these days highlight for us the preciousness and dearness of human life for God. He exchanged the life of His only Son for us!
In the face of the great love of God for each of us, the Gospel reminds us that many times it is our “self defense” that prevents us from receiving and experiencing God’s love. It could have been easier for the disciples to ask Jesus, “Is it I, Lord?” However, they – including Judas – asked with rather a tone of defensiveness and denial, “Surely it is not I, Lord?”
Throughout humanity’s relationship with God, the problem has not been so much the sin and frailty of humanity as his strong defensiveness and denial, Adam, when asked if he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree in the middle of Eden, answered YHWH with irritation, “The woman whom you made, gave the fruit to me…” Likewise, when Cain was confronted by YHWH about the death of his brother Abel, he answered with an air of pride, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
May we put down our defenses and denials, and may we simply come to the Lord in all our brokenness and pains. Then we will experience the true preciousness of these days
Preparing the readings today, I am drawn to dwell on the words of response for the Psalm: “Lord, in your great love, answer me.” Filipinos call these days Mahal na Araw, which means “Dear or Precious Days.” These days are indeed precious days because these days highlight for us the preciousness and dearness of human life for God. He exchanged the life of His only Son for us!
In the face of the great love of God for each of us, the Gospel reminds us that many times it is our “self defense” that prevents us from receiving and experiencing God’s love. It could have been easier for the disciples to ask Jesus, “Is it I, Lord?” However, they – including Judas – asked with rather a tone of defensiveness and denial, “Surely it is not I, Lord?”
Throughout humanity’s relationship with God, the problem has not been so much the sin and frailty of humanity as his strong defensiveness and denial, Adam, when asked if he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree in the middle of Eden, answered YHWH with irritation, “The woman whom you made, gave the fruit to me…” Likewise, when Cain was confronted by YHWH about the death of his brother Abel, he answered with an air of pride, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
May we put down our defenses and denials, and may we simply come to the Lord in all our brokenness and pains. Then we will experience the true preciousness of these days
