Today, I was reminded at Palm Sunday Mass (this post was first drafted on 28th March 2021) that when Jesus Christ was at His weakest physical state as God-Made-Man, the devil struck again to taunt, to try to tempt Jesus to succumb to the order of the world, and to let His material wants take precedence over obedience to His father.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
Mark 15:25-27,29-32
Here the devil was in the deriders – the mockers – the naysayers – those who worked to cast doubt and instigate a deviation from the straight and true path.
I wonder how we will be tested in these, our personal end times. Whether we too will decry the faith of our youthful Christian upbringing, to settle for a cynical attestation of the secular view of Life versus what the Kingdom of God offers. For it is not as if the vision of the Kingdom of God is any less wanting and attractive:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
I think we will all have our test – our personal moment of reckoning when we will have to weigh the Glory and Promise of following God, versus the self-edification of man. I am reminded often of the recollections of Pope Benedict of his predecessor, St Pope JP2, about how John Paul II refused to rest, even for a moment, during his visitation to his homeland, Poland – he said that there will be time to rest, in the afterlife.
Lumix G9 Leica DG 8-18, 16 mm f3.5 .From the Colungo Deck, Rifle Range Nature Park & the Cave Path, Bukit Timah Hill Nature Park, Singapore. December 2022