The eternal story includes us

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

A reflection on the daily readings, for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

Division everywhere!

Plotting, and evil doings! —

“Why did you not bring him in?”

And as we get closer and closer to Holy Week, we see that the plot thickens, evil increases, and hatred, jealousy and fear abound.

It is almost like someone is poking the beehive with a stick — the bees go crazy, and the buzzing gets worse.

Jeremiah is miserable because people are plotting to kill him.

Jeremiah begins to see what is going on; he sees the threats against him, and the plotting of evil.

But, nonetheless, he continues to hope in the Lord; his trust never falters.

+ And Jesus continues to speak the truth he must speak, and his words divide them for and against.

They questioned where he came from. Who his family was. Is he the Christ or not? They were divided. They remained divided.

Then after all this fuss and divisiveness, “they all went to their own house.”

Life goes on. Ugliness does not rest. Ugliness remains.

+ In some ways, we Christians are all like Jeremiah today, who, having been duped, now said, “I knew their plot because the Lord informed me.”

We, too, are informed by the full story which ends horrifically, then really ends in glory.

Who would have thought either of these endings would have occurred?

And we hear the story year after year, tell the story year after year, and have constant reminders of the story from the crosses hanging in our churches. And in some churches, like our own here at St. Bernard, we also have the real ending of the story as we gaze up at our risen Christ.

But even then, the real story does not end. We know and believe in an eternal story that includes us, and we look forward very soon to reminding one another and celebrating with one another what has been called and has been told in movie form — “The Greatest Story Ever Told.“