A Father Who Will Reign
by Fr. David M. Knight
March 30, 2024
Holy Saturday
Lectionary No. 41
Genesis 1:1—2:2; Psalm 104; Genesis 22:1–18; Psalm 16; Exodus 14:15—15:1; Canticle: Exodus 15:1–18; Isaiah 54:5-14; Psalm 30; Isaiah 55:1-11; Canticle: Isaiah 12:6; Baruch 3:9—4:4; Psalm 19; Ezekiel 36:16–28; If there is no baptism, Isaiah 12 or Psalm 50(51); If there is a baptism, Psalm 41(42); Romans 6:3–11; Psalm 118; Mark 16:1-7
On the first day of the week… they went to the tomb… saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? When they looked up, they saw that the stone… had already been rolled back.” Mark 16:2
As “stewards of Christ’s kingship,” anointed in Baptism to continue his messianic mission as King, we are responsible for bringing every area and activity of human life under the life-giving reign of Christ. That means transforming cultures, breaking through longstanding attitudes, values, and customs—a task as far beyond our ability as rolling back the door-stone was for the women at Jesus’s tomb.
When the women “looked up,” however, “they saw that the stone… had already been rolled back.” And if we “look up,” we realize that, by his resurrection, Jesus has already conquered sin, death, and all the evil consequences of these. The way is open to the renewal of the world. It is now up to us, Christ’s risen body on earth, to enter into every culture and community on earth and make all that is good in it divine.
The Easter celebration calls us, as stewards of the kingship of Christ, to persevere in leadership, “hoping against hope” (Romans 4:18) that the world can be, and is being, renewed.
ACTION: Begin by just noticing anything around you that is different from what God would desire. When you can, do something about it.
PRAYER: “Father, your Kingdom come! Your will be done!”
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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