CCT: Jesus Christ’s life is “Thy will be done.”
It is common for the world to heap great praise on those who detour from or deny the will of God. If you receive such praise, it is hard to resist, and Liam is discovering that. True courage, though, walks through the fog of defiance toward the light of God’s promise. Isaiah, though faith, saw the “new thing” of the Kingdom of God ahead of him (cf. Isa 43.16-21), as did our fathers in the faith who sowed tears in exile while looking toward the eternal promised land (cf. Ps 126). St. Paul, too, knew this courage. Though a theological “prince” of his people, he considered all the trappings of that office excrement compared to the joy of knowing Christ (cf. Phil 3.4b-14). True courage, true faith, looks to Christ, who as the Great Son, entered the violent vineyard of our world in order to redeem it for us (cf. Lk 20.9-10).
4/3/2022. True Courage
Isa 43.16-21: Remember not the former things… Behold, I am doing a new thing
Ps 126: weeping will turn into joy
Phil 3.4b-14: All that I had is “rubbish” compared to surpassing joy of knowing Christ
Lk 20.9-20: The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
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This is my last “Letter to Liam,” at least for now. “Liam” is a literary creation, 21 years old, a conflation of many 20-somethings that I know. These are personal, pastoral letters wherein I meditate on the readings for the particular Sunday in Lent, but reflect that in a correspondence about the life that Liam and I are living.—Pastor Lance O’Donnell_+