One of things that Lent is about is trying to be more like God intended us to be, humans fully engaged, fully alive. That is what Jesus was, fully divine but also fully human. In a way, since we are created in the image and likeness of God, becoming fully human is bringing us closer to God.
Of course this is no easy task and growing, maturing, pruning, reaching for growth is not solely a Lenten journey, it is our life journey. Sometimes it's easier to coast along though. There are people who don't even make the eeffort at any form of personal growth, emotional or spiritual. I recognize these people as old fogies. The person who is judgemental, crotchety, unbending and basically has stopped living for all intents and purposes even if the body lives for another 40 or 50 years. It's sad but true and I am sure we have known one or two people like that.
There are also those who, in a pseudo attempt to grow, try to make themselves look better by making the other 'guy' look worse. Point to someone else. The best defense is a good offense, isn't that how the expression goes? People get very comfy where they are and so why change things? If things do begin to change, if the world starts to grow even the slightest from what they are comfortable with, lets blame the 'other'. We know who the other's are too. It could be Muslims, blacks, gays, Jews or any array of non white or non-Christian people. They are responsible for the changes, we want it the way it was ( and invariably, allegedly, the way it always has been. ) To blame others we need not worry about history, that can be denied and explained away or even ignored. Just so long as we don't have to change, grow or mature.
In today's passage from Jeremiah the power elite decided that they would plan to have Jeremiah killed rather than to acknowledge wrong doing, wrong living or accept responsibility - or God forbid, change! This is still part of the human condition today and it would be a special gift to God and ourselves if we tried to stop this kind of behavour as part of our Lenten journey.
In today's passage from Matthew, we find some strong feelings and arguments among the apostles about who is the greatest among them, perhaps incited by John and James' mother who asks if they can sit on Jesus' right and left side in God's kingdom. Jesus is quick to point out the folly here. We have to know that as the world is, it cannot be so with us as Christians. We cannot be building walls, emotional or physical to keep our brothers and sisters away or outside. We should not be asking to be first. Jesus has preached plenty about those who wish to be first and the answer is always to serve our bothers and sisters and to be last.
Finally, as if to drive the point home in answering John and James' mom, Jesus basically says, be careful what you ask for. Will James and John be able to accept what Jesus is going to accept, what Jesus is going to do? Before we start blaming others and invoking God in our own peculiar self righteous ways, we better make note of what we are really asking for, God may give it to us.
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