St. Nicolai Notes

Lenten Prayer - Day 14 - Third Thursday (March 4, 2021)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:12-22

     O God, it is difficult to fully comprehend what You were doing through Jesus, particularly in these enacted parables of judgment. Some of us draw the conclusion that Jesus was rejecting his people and rejecting Judaism to start a new religion. But how can that be, when Jesus was a Jewish person who was identified as the fulfillment of the instruction, warning, and promise of Law and Prophets; when he was identified as God's Anointed One who came as God's Agent of Salvation for Israel, then for all peoples; when his own instruction was based on Israel's scriptures; and, when his earliest followers remained faithful to their Jewish roots and appealed, first, to the Jewish community in the preaching of good news?

     Forgive us when we assume that You have rejected your chosen people and moved in a completely different direction with the Jesus movement. Forgive us when we move from this misunderstanding to violence against your chosen ones.

     Enable us to understand how heaven and earth are linked together, most fully, in Jesus. Energize us to continue the forgiving, healing, liberating work that he did among us. 

     Forgive us when we fail to bear the fruit of compassion and justice, in our individual and communal lives, but assume that our call to be your people, and our receiving of your gifts, is all that is required of us. Enable us to follow Jesus, with gladness, in the proclamation of good news to the poor, and in healing, liberating, unifying works of mercy that often disrupt the usual way we do things.

     May your Spirit give us discernment of your presence and action among us and energize us for risky faithfulness. Amen.