Matthew 21:33–43, 45–46

Jesus' ministry is drawing to a close.  Until now the chief priests and Pharisees have resolutely refused to listen to his teaching or come to faith in him. Their hearts and minds have remained firmly closed.  The Parable of the Tenants represents Jesus’s final attempt to break through the stubbornness of the Jewish leaders in the hope that they might recognise him as the One who fulfils the prophecies, the long-awaited Messiah.

Despite all their blindness and hardness of heart, Jesus loves them.  They are his brothers and he wants to reach out to them.  He can see beneath the surface and knows they are lost, and are in darkness and pain.  In their own, confused way, they are seeking life, but in all the wrong places.  Their interest is in power, prestige and wealth. Sadly, they choose to remain in the darkness and reject him.

In many ways, we're not so different.  We too can go astray and seek fulfilment and security in the things of the world.  Our hearts can harden as quickly as any Pharisee. But, as with the Pharisees, Jesus never stops loving us.  He is the Good Shepherd who always comes searching when we stray into the wilderness of sin.   He is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11–12) for he bought us at the price of his precious blood to make us God's sons and daughters.

Through this parable, Jesus is speaking to our hearts today.  In this Lenten season he asks us to turn to him, to rediscover that we desperately need him each day.  He invites us to accept him as the cornerstone of our lives, to recognise him as the centre of all things, the One who gives meaning and significance to life.  Peter tells us that anyone who trusts in this 'chosen and precious cornerstone will never be put to shame (1 Pet. 2:6).  Jesus, through our prayers, fasting and almsgiving, wants to open our eyes to the truth that he is the goal of all our hopes and aspirations and only he can bring true fulfilment.

Father, soften our hard hearts with your grace. In this holy season may we build our lives on Christ your Son, the chief cornerstone.

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28 • Psalm 104(105):16-21 • Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

We can be easily swept along by the world's philosophical answers to life's fundamental questions.  The media often presents experts who proffer their answers to these, and we may feel lost in a world that is full of instant answers and strong opinions!  However, when we conform our attitudes to the truth of the Gospel and Jesus' teaching we can be confident that we are living a life that is pleasing to God.  Christ came into the world to set us free from futility and emptiness.

The way of Christ is simple: we believe in Jesus and love one another (v. 23).   When we allow the truth of the Gospel to reveal Jesus, we experience an interior attraction to his teaching.  The Spirit transforms us to be more Christ-like, and penetrates our hearts with the truth about ourselves and gives us the courage to admit how we have been unfaithful, marred God's image and tainted our relationship with him. We can enter into life-giving dialogue with the Spirit in which we speak, listen and express ourselves trustfully with the joy of being welcomed, accepted, forgiven and restored.

The Spirit knows our hearts and wants us to have confidence in his power to renew us.  The command to love one another would be impossible to fulfil were we to rely on ourselves; we need God's love, help and support. When we welcome the Spirit as our teacher and guide, he will come without our knowing how, without our being aware of how it happens. But we will find him dwelling within, speaking to us and counselling us on what we must do. If we are sorrowful he will comfort us in our affliction. The flame of his love will burn in us and we will love God and our brothers and sisters with a love that is encouraging, warm and constant.

Come, Holy Spirit! I welcome you in a new way into my lịfe today. Show me the attitudes and opinions that close my heart to your gentle persuasion. Help me to be aware of your presence that always consoles, enlightens, refreshes and directs. I believe that every wall of fear, confusion and temptation must yield before your truth and love.

1 John 22–46 • Psalm 27–8, 10–11 • Matthew 4:12–1, 23–25

Mark 1:40–45 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

 Leprosy was one of the most repugnant and most feared diseases in the ancient world. In the Old Testament the term was used to denote a broad range of skin diseases, some of which were curable, and so the law stipulated conditions to be fulfilled if the disease was to be recognised as cured. In its most virulent form it was considered so serious that the rabbis regarded the healing of leprosy to be as difficult as raising the dead. Perhaps the worst effect of leprosy was that people suffering from any of the diseases covered by the term had to live isolated from society. They were forbidden from entering a dwelling, and if anyone approached they had to cry "Unclean, unclean!" (Lev. 13:45–46).

This understanding helps us to realise that in today's Gospel Jesus was approached by a person who was normally denied any contact with healthy people. Those surrounding Jesus must have shied away from the sick man, fearful of contamination. How did Jesus react to the man's presence? Some ancient manuscripts, rather than saying that he was 'moved with pity' (v. 41), read that he was 'moved with anger. Commentators reflect that this reading may portray Jesus’s anger against the power of evil seen as present in the illness. With a word and a touch Jesus healed the leper.

Despite the laws of Leviticus, the leper came to Jesus with great faith, and his faith was rewarded with his healing Jesus showed that he regarded compassion as more important than the ritual prohibitions against contact with the diseased. Nevertheless, he was obedient to the law in complying with the regulations surrounding the proof of a cure, telling the man to go to the priest and make the stipulated offering

As we try to follow Jesus’s way, we may ask ourselves: Who are the outcasts today? Who are those that we shy away from, in fear, loathing and contempt? Whether consciously or not, it is all too easy for us to retreat from those who are ill or suffering But people, whoever they are and whatever their condition, need compassion and care.

Lord, you cared for the outcasts of society.  Help me to make room in my heart for everyone, including those whom society judges as beyond redemption, for your mercy reaches out to all.

Leviticus 13:1–2, 44-46 • Psalm 31 (32):1-2, 5, 11 • 1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1 • Mark 1:40–45

Apocalypse 11:4-12 • Psalm 143(144):1–2, 9–10 • Luke 20:27–40

Jesus incurred the wrath and indignation of two groups in Israel: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Each group was intent on trying to trip Jesus up, catching him out, boxing him into a corner. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They approached Jesus with all the arrogance of an elite professional religious caste and put before him a disingenuous conundrum all wrapped up as a sincere query about the levirate law on marriage. According to this law a dead man’s brother was obliged to marry the widow, who could then bear a child so that the deceased brother’s line and estate would be retained within the family and his lineage would continue into posterity. The Sadducees were trying to back Jesus into a corner, hoping that he would either renounce the resurrection of the body or condone polyandry (where a woman has more than one husband).

True to form Jesus transcended the question but seized the moment to teach about the afterlife. In heaven the institution of marriage will be succeeded by a new kind of relationship with God and with each other, which, despite us having a new body, does not involve procreation. We believe in the salvation of the whole person, body and soul, and although there is no marriage in heaven, we believe that we will be reunited with our loved ones.

For those who have had an unfortunate experience of earthly marriage, perhaps having suffered separation, divorce or other adverse circumstances, this prospect might not be a favourable one.  But in the passage from temporal to eternal on the good will remain – evil falls away – and the love that once united a couple remains.  Defects, misunderstandings or suffering will fall away.  Indeed this very suffering, accepted with faith, will transformed into glory.  Many spouses will experience true love for each other only when they are reunited in God, and with this love there will be joy and fulness of the union that they might not have known on earth.

In God all wıll be understood, all will be forgiven and all will be well.

Lord, you are the resurrection and the life.  Death is not the end, but the beginning of life, life to the full.

Philippians 2: 5-11

In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus: His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

A note from the Life Application Bible:

2:5-11 These verses are probably from a hymn sung by the early Christian church. The passage holds many parallels to the prophecy of the suffering servant in lsaiah 53. As a hymn, it was not meant to be a complete statement about the nature and work of Christ. Several key characteristics of Jesus Christ, however, are" praised in this passage: (1) Christ has always existed with God;

(2) Christ is equal to God because he is God (John 1:1ff; Colos- sians 1:15—19); 

(3) though Christ is God, he became a man in order to fulfil God’s plan of salvation for all people; 

(4) Christ did not just have the appearance of being a man — he actually became human to identify with our sins; 

(5) Christ voluntarily laid aside his divine rights and privileges out of love for his Father; 

(6) Christ died on the cross for our sins so we wouldn’t have to face eternal death; 

(7) God glorified Christ because of his obedience; 

(8) God raised Christ to his original position at the Father’s right hand, where he will reign for ever as our Lord and Judge. 

How can we do anything less than praise Christ as our Lord and dedicate ourselves to his service!