Leaning Into Lent: Day 6—Hitting Back

I love the canticles in Daily Prayer. They are “songs” of praise without music from the Bible. They give me words to worship with as I reflect on one reading before moving on to the next. I can set them to music and chant them, too, depending on where I’m praying the office and whether I’m alone, or not.

The canticle between the readings in the contemporary version of the Church of England’s Evening Prayer for Lent is “A Song of Christ the Servant” from 1 Peter 2.21b-25. This verse about Jesus always lights up for me:

When he was reviled, he did not revile in turn.
When he suffered, he did not threaten,
but he trusted himself to God who judges justly. (1 Peter 2.23)

Leaning into that verse during Lent reminds me if I ever happen to be reviled, condemned, maligned or criticized, then I must not revile or threaten in return, either. I must never hit back, or even lean on them a little. Like Jesus, I must trust myself and my reputation to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who always judges justly.