A Friend Who Cares
by Fr. David M. Knight

Saturday, January 20, 2024
Week II in Ordinary Time
Lectionary No. 316
2Samuel 1:4-27; Psalm 80; Mark 3:20-21
“How can the warriors have fallen…?” 2Samuel 1:19
The rabbis say that when the Egyptians pursued the Israelites into the Red Sea, and the waters flowed back and drowned them, the angels begin to sing. Then they saw that God was weeping. God explained, “The Egyptians are my children too.”
David mourned the deaths, both of Jonathan, his friend, and of Saul, who was trying to kill him. God mourned their defeat, although he had authorized it (1Samuel 28:19). And Jesus wept when Lazarus died, even though he deliberately let it happen for “the glory of God” and knew he was going to raise him from the dead (John 11:3ff.).
When the crowds made such demands on Jesus and his disciples that it was “impossible for them even to eat,” he got so caught up in serving them that “his relatives set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” That is the picture of a man who cares.
We may not understand why God lets some things happen. But one thing we do know: God cares. Jesus cares. Jesus is a friend who cares.
It is enough.
Friendship is interaction. Interact with Jesus and you will have a friend who cares,
ACTION: When you do not understand why Jesus is doing—or not doing—something, put the same trust in him that he has put in you. Tell him you know he cares.
PRAYER: “Lord, be with me. Let me be with you.”
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

コメント