Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Lectionary: 220

The Son of Man must suffer greatly, and be rejected

By the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

And be killed,

And on the third day be raised. 

Then he said to all, 

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself…

Today’s gospel is one of three predictions of the Lord’s coming passion in Jerusalem. All the synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – present the predictions, and nearly word for word. In John’s gospel Jesus speaks three times of his being “lifted up;” a set like to the synoptic predictions. 

Accompanying each of these mysterious prophecies of doom and deliverance is a teaching about discipleship, about what it means to follow the Lord. 

As we set out on a forty day march to Holy Week and Easter, we hear the Lord’s insistent word to us, “If anyone wishes to come after me….” 

Lots of people describe themselves as Christian and Catholic. Each year we’re amused by the “C&Es” who crowd into the church on Christmas and Easter, although even that number is shrinking each year. Bemused Catholics might add to that anagram AW, because Ash Wednesday is often the largest crowd of the entire year.  But they’re not here the day after Ash Wednesday, and so we can ponder in familiar quiet the meaning of discipleship. 

Pastors and preachers are often caught in a dilemma between two of his parables. As we call our congregations together, do we apply the parable of the farmer who broadcast his seed in every direction? Or the parable of the pearl that is not thrown to swine? Do we give our Sacraments for which Christ shed his blood and many martyrs are still dying, to anyone who shows up in Church? Or do we withhold the Sacrament from those who are no more than curious about this building and its rites? 

A pastor recently told me of the second grade child who attends his Catholic school and wants to “make First Communion” with his Catholic classmates. The family is unchurched and shows little indication that they might follow their seven-year-old through OCIC and OCIA into full Catholic discipleship. What should he do? 

In conversation with two former pastors, he agreed that the boy might be encouraged to pursue further religious initiation when he is of an age to attend Sunday Mass with his friends. In the meanwhile he'll discover that few of his Catholic classmates received a second Communion.  

On this Thursday after Ash Wednesday, as we enter the foyer of Lent, everyone who received their ashes yesterday should develop a plan for their own turn and return to the Lord. How shall I follow my Savior on the road toward Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, the Supper of the Lord, Good Friday, and Easter? 

The religious practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving signal the body and those around us that we're taking the Lord's call seriously. We want to feel and be aware of his presence all the time. Each impulse to eat whets our appetite for God's presence. A more intense regimen of prayer hones an awareness of God's presence; and -- what is perhaps the sharpest tool of all -- almsgiving reminds us that everything we have and are comes from God.

These religious practices may lead us into discipleship, into becoming the last of all and the servant of all.