Morning Prayer
Luke 9: 18 – 36
Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
Reflection
Jesus asks us today just as he did his disciples then, “Who do you say that I am?” To people of all ages Jesus is clearly high up there. To the Hindu he is an enlightened teacher (their highest category) to Muslims he is a prophet (their highest category) and to the Israelites of Jesus’ day he was also a prophet. But there was also a great degree of Messianic expectation so Peter would not have been alone in saying that this teacher/prophet was the Messiah. Of course Abba trumped them all in revealing Jesus to his three closest apostles and fulfilling the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), telling them “this is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” No wonder they did not talk of this revelation of Jesus until after his resurrection!
But again, Jesus asks us today, “Who do you say that I am?” In other words what is your relationship with Jesus? This is a question worth asking yourself again and again.
Noon Day Prayers Question
What would Jesus do?
As we see more and more what Jesus did in many different situations we find ourselves able to answer this question in the different situations in our lives. Think of something that happened today and how you responded. Now ask yourself “what would Jesus have done?” Think on this… Consider using this question as a guide in your daily life whenever you find yourself in a ‘situation’… “What would Jesus do?”
Evening Prayer
Luke 9: 37 – 56
The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.
Reflection
Jesus had already given his disciples authority over all demons but they could not cast out this spirit. This is the first in a collection of the vicissitudes of his disciples’ humanity along the way. I guess they were too impressed by the demon. Then he tries to tell them what is really happening but not only do they not understand the true meaning, they are afraid to ask him about it.
Then they start competing against each other for greatness, trying to exercise their right to be the only ones who can cast out demons using Jesus’ name, before finally wanting to flame a Samaritan village because of its rejection of Jesus.
It would seem that training these disciples took a lot of patience on Jesus’ part! It still does today. Perhaps an examen moment could include a consideration of in what ways Jesus has had to exercise patience with you today…