GOSPEL REFLECTION, WEDNESDAY, 2ND WEEK OF LENT, 4 MARCH 2026

Matthew 20:17-28.  As Jesus and his disciples, after their long journey from Galilee, were about to begin the climb to Jerusalem.  There Jesus foretold what was to happen to him in Jerusalem, for the third time (see also Matt 16:21, 17:22).  The first time, Peter took the Lord aside and told him not to talk like that!  The second time, the disciples were ‘greatly distressed’ despite Jesus each time foretelling his resurrection.  The third time, they still did not understand, for the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, pleading that they be seated to his left and right hand in the Kingdom.  The disciples heard only a prediction of death, of and end to their journey with Jesus.  But Jesus rebuked these three and the other disciples became angry with them when they found out what had happened.  Jesus reminded the three that his death was not just about them.   His death was to be a salvation (‘a ransom’) for many.  On none of the three occasions of Jesus foretelling his death and resurrection did the disciples clearly understand what he was saying.  All they heard was a prediction of death.

It can be easy enough during the solemnities of Lent to focus only on the death of Jesus and on the ghastly things that would happen to him beforehand.  What we certainly have to keep before us is his sacrificial death and suffering, but that his death would also be a revelation of his glory, that beyond his death was his crown, and that beyond his death was the resurrection and of the triumph of life over death, for Jesus and for all humanity – nothing less than that!