Friday, April 12, 2019 – Jesus Trusted His Father and So Should We!

How many times in one day do we question the power of God? Some days it might feel like every five minutes. We question if God is really here with us. We question if God really cares about us. We question if God is interested in our problems at all. Whenever we experience difficulties and struggles, our faith is tested and we often question God, but the first reading today tells us that:

“The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion.”

When I read the first reading, I immediately thought of my own trust in the Lord. It is a very reassuring reading because we read not only about our enemies and those who would like to see us fail, but also about God. God is right there with us, even when wicked people are gossiping about us, or mean us harm.

A few prayers stuck out in my mind when I read those words. A very popular reflection on trust in the Lord is the Footprints poem. Another wonderful prayer is by Mother Teresa called the Anyway poem. Psalm 23 is also one of my favorite verses in the Bible. God is always with us! It is always between God and ouselves, and even when we walk through dark times, we still have nothing to fear with the Lord by our side.

Some people may hesitate to place their trust in the Lord, after reading in today’s gospel that He ran away from the Jews and escaped across the Jordan. How can we trust in the Lord if He does not even stick around to defend Himself? This is not the time for the Lord to be arrested, charged and convicted of any crimes though. Jesus made many references during His public ministry to His passion and death. He already knew the exact day and hour that His passion would begin.

Jesus did not run away because He was scared, or because He did not want to defend Himself; Jesus escaped because He knew that it was not yet His hour. Just as all human beings are born with the incredible gift of free will, Jesus was also born with free will. He could have changed the schedule of His public ministry if he wanted to, but Jesus had absolute faith and trust in His father and in what He was sent to earth to accomplish. We are also called to use our own gift of free will, to place our faith and trust in the Lord.

I think that is one lesson from Jesus that I sometimes overlook – that Jesus was the one who taught us to trust in God. I know other lessons that Jesus taught in His public ministry such as clothe the naked, visit the sick, love your neighbor as yourself, but the example to trust in God is sometimes pushed to the back burner. It is a lesson that we need to remember every day, because not one single day goes by when we are not challenged in some way. It is necessary to place our trust in the Lord in all the circumstances of our lives. God does not require it from us every day, but that does not mean we should ignore Him for more than 24 hours either.

What an awesome combination today’s first reading and Gospel make! We are reminded to trust in God (in the first reading) because He knows exactly what He is doing (in today’s Gospel).

About the Author

Hello! My name is Laura Kazlas. As a child, I was raised in an atheist family, but came to believe in God when I was 12 years old. I was baptized because of the words that I read in the bible. I later became a Catholic because of the Mass. The first time my husband brought me to Mass, I thought it was the most holy, beautiful sense of worshiping God that I had ever experienced. I still do! My husband John and I have been married for 37 years. We have a son, a daughter, and two granddaughters. We are in the process of adopting a three year old little girl. We live in Salem, Oregon in the United States. I currently serve as the program coordinator for Catholic ministry at a local maximum security men's prison. I‘m also a supervisor for Mount Angel Seminary’s field education program, in Oregon.

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10 Comments

  1. Amazing Laura. When I read the Scriptures today the exact same verse jumped out at me. We are probably following the lead of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your work

  2. thanks for your reflection, Laura. I don’t think saying He “ran away” is as a good description as that He eluded them. No doubt He was ready at all times to let Himself fall into their hands, but being always in God’s will , He eluded them until the right time. I find trusting God one of the most difficult things, and your reflection is most encouraging partly for telling me others have the same problem! God bless you always.

  3. Thanks Laura for your good reflection. Trusting in the Lord is sometimes difficult because at times He takes too long to answer our prayers. I remember a parent lost a son and exclaimed whether they “would find the Lord any time soon” due to the sorrow they went through. However the Lord comes at His own time. God bless you Laura

  4. Thanks for sharing am encouraged today to know that the Lord is with me like a mighty champion.

  5. Todays readings give us insight to Holy Week. Jesus is showing his trust right now from a distance. Next week his trust will be put to the test. Really nice reflection. Thank you Laura.

  6. Thank you so much Laura. I needed this message on Trusting in the Lord. I recall Psalm 130:16 in which Scriptures tell us that before we were formed in the earth, God had already ordained our paths before they came to be. That means that He is very much aware of what it is we are going through and that it is only a page of our full story. By placing our Trust in him, with thanksgiving, there is a peace that enables us to bear patiently whatever cross we carry, in accordance to His will.

  7. Today’s reading and your reflection are encouraging. Thank you. Our God is a mighty champion! He can handle our doubts and our problems.

  8. Laura you wrote that God is with us “even when wicked people are gossiping about us, or mean us harm.” In my experience, it is not wicked people who gossip and harm us, it is ‘good’ people who do these things out of jealousy, fear and the like. In today’s Gospel that’s what I picked up. The Jews did not “get it” and it’s the same with us. If we disagree with someone, something, even good people lash out, get jealous that the other might actually be right, and then fear sets in. I believe the Jews who wanted to harm Jesus were ‘good’ people as every day people, but here comes a man who preaches love your enemies. Scary stuff back then. Still a difficult thing to do in our day, even though we know that’s what we should doing, but instead, we react, lash out. My mantra for times like these is “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND RELY NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING” . I believe that is from Proverbs.

  9. I agree with Chris Curley about Jesus not running away, but eluding them. His hour had not yet come, because He still had more work to do.

    I like to think of all of the times that people tried to kill Jesus and he eluded them in this way. He had more work from the Father to do. I was in a car accident that could have been fatal at more than one point of the accident. Both my child and I came out completely unharmed. I told everyone that the Lord still has work for us to do and that us why we are fine. It (and writing this right now) was a good reminder of the fact that I’m still here to do God’s work to help bring about His kingdom on Earth. The Lord will call me home when I’m done doing the work He has sent me to do, and same goes for my child. At the accident, it was not our time yet.

    May the Lord bless and protect us as we anticipate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. May He bless and protect us during Holy Week.

  10. Thanks Laura for the reflections , and for the educative poems too reminding us that when things are difficult and God seems not to be with us ,He is indeed there and He is most caring.God bless Maurice, Nairobi Kenya.

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