Jesus knows that some of the religious officials and Roman oppressors have become very frightened of him. He knows they are plotting violence against him because of the wideness of his mercy and the justice woven through his love.
We don't know what Jesus prayed each day during this harrowing time in his earthly journey. Yet scripture tells us that he grew up hearing and reading the Psalms. Maybe Jesus prayed these words of Psalm 31, or something close to them, as he felt the cruel hatred of the people he sought to bless with divine compassion. I pray these words today in solidarity with Jesus, remembering his undaunted courage and his amazing faithfulness to God and to us all:
Be gracious to me, O God, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.
I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—
terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
But I trust in you, O Holy One;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.
Psalm 31:9-16 (New Revised Standard Version)