A Bad Day

Fifth Sunday in Lent

March 17, 2024

John 2:13-25

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is told that some Greeks would like to speak to him. Instead of saying something like, “Sure! Bring them in and let’s chat!”, Jesus goes off on a rant about how a seed has to die for it to be fruitful. It’s pretty easy to pick up on the fact that Jesus has pretty much reached his wits end at this point. He knows what is coming, and he’s not looking forward to it at all.

Interestingly, in some translations, Jesus does come back to mentioning the Greeks who are waiting to see him. No, he does not invite them in for tea and crumpets. He says “If these Greeks want to be my disciples, tell them to come and follow me, for my servants must be where I am. And if they follow me, the Father will honor them.” [Jn 12: 26 TLB] In other words, he sends Philip and Andrew back to the visitors to give the message, and “to have a nice day, but the Rabbi cannot see you today.” Poor Jesus was having a bad day.

Since each of us are very patient and mellow folks, I am sure I speak for all of us, when I say that none of us have ever reached our wits end and snapped at anyone or had a bad day. Am I right? Of course I’m not right. I’ve lost track of how many times I have bitten someone’s nose off because I was too tired, too busy, too angry, or too frustrated. It was not a pretty sight. I was having a bad day.

I try to keep that in mind when someone starts in on me. It’s not easy to keep my temper when someone is haranguing me, but I have learned and experienced too many instances where, after I got chewed out, I learned that that person was having some serious problems at work or at home or in a relationship. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and I’m the one who got the brunt of their frustration. I don’t always recognize it, but when I do, it can be a graced moment to help the person come back to earth and release some of the anger and irritation they are feeling. They were just having a bad day.

There are so many things that can cause us to be frustrated each day. Gun violence sends me off the chart. As of today, March 14, 2024, there have been 2,678 homicides or murders so far in 2024. That's 36 deaths per day.  (www.gunviolencearchive.org/) Forty-nine children under the age of 11 have been killed. 231 teens aged 11-17 have been killed. And 14 police officers have been killed. Enough is enough! What has to be done to find a way to eliminate these senseless killings? Having 74 bad days in a row is not an excuse.

When Jesus says “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life,” he is not saying that people have to actually die to gain eternal life. He is saying to let go of who you think you are and follow my example. If we could only love everyone, as Jesus showed us how to do, then this world would be so much calmer, nicer and cleaner.

I’d be lying to you if I said I’ll never have a bad day or have an angry outburst again in my life. I’d like that to be true, but I’m just not that good. What I do want to do is to wake up every morning and pledge to try and hold it together. And if I see someone having a “moment”, I will reach out and offer to be a listening ear to them. Even if I do not know them. I might be having a bad day myself, but I can die to myself a little and let the love of Christ shine on the other person.

Every Day.

     “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.

     Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation.

     Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice.

     Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”

-      St. Francis of Assisi