Entitled

"And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked," Mark 14:51-52.

That's what the young guy did, following the arrested Jesus, what he did when they caught him. And the older guy out in the courtyard, who had followed Jesus there for the trial, when accused of having been with Jesus, swore an oath: I do not know this man. And the rest of the erstwhile followers - they all left Jesus and fled. So. Next time we start feeling righteously entitled in our selfless service as protectors of Jesus and his faith, we just remember who, having been asked, Are you the Christ, Son of the Blessed?, answered: I am. We remember who made the good confession. And who didn't. Who went to the cross. And ...

We greet each other humbly today and remember Jesus' lonely confession before the tribunal. And, together, we bow, confessant, thanking the Christ that even as we fled, he shepherded us back into the arms of his blessed Father.