29/03/2026
TODAY’S REFLECTION
The best way to read the Bible and indeed the only way to read the Bible is to read ourselves into it, putting ourselves in the shoes of the characters within the Biblical stories thereby making the Bible become our examination of conscience. When we try to place ourselves in the characters of today’s Passion Narrative, we cannot but see how real the story becomes and how it contains so many lessons for us even today.
Our people say that it is the rat inside the house that goes to inform other rats outside that there is food in the house. The enemy outside cannot succeed without the permission or cooperation of the enemy inside. Again, in pidgin, there is the saying: “NA WHO KNOW MAN, NAI DEY KILL AM.” All these boils down to the person of Judas Iscariot. But wait, before you begin to judge him, why not ask: “Haven’t I betrayed my close friends in the past?” “Don’t I sit down to gossip about people very close to me using the secrets I know about them against them?”
Always remember that on the day of your birth, you brought nothing to this world and the day you die, you would take nothing with you. Let this thought never leave your heart. All your efforts to grab, accumulate and possess which sometimes lead you to fight others, keep malice, insult or keep enemies are useless because in the end, you will have to watch and see how every dime you have will go away. Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. How much of that money did he spend?
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent “for he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.” Mark 15:10. But just like you and me, he was more afraid of the crowd than the truth. He acted against his conscience to please the crowd and to secure his job. If I was Pilate, what would I have done differently?
The Passion Narrative teaches us a lot about ourselves. The bitter truth is humanity has not changed at all since the time of Jesus. We are still ruled by money, we still betray one another, we are still stingy, we do not pray well, and we often act to please the crowd, in short we are often crowd people, we do things not because it is right but because everyone is doing it. Like I once noted, if Jesus were to come back again as man, we would still kill him again. Do not repeat history. Change today. Become a better person.
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL FOR LENT
As man Jesus died, but as God He saved us. They thought they were going to destroy Him once and for all by killing Him, but His death opened the channel of life and freedom to all those who were held captive.
By dying, Jesus destroyed our death and by rising from the dead He restored our life. This is a joyful moment, this is a hopeful moment, this is a day of glory and praise and we must rejoice and be glad.
We must become children of the light and we must also rise with Jesus into a newness of life. We must place our total trust in Jesus Christ because death and the grave could not hold Him captive, therefore, with Him we can overcome all that comes our way.
Let us Pray,
Lord Jesus, free me from the love of money and the desire to please people. Increase my love and devotion to you especially during this holy week. Amen.
Meditation: Genesis 22:1-18/Romans 6:3-11/Mark 16:1-7
Happy Sunday/Holy week leading to Good Friday!
