The prodigal son, perhaps this is the most beautiful of all the parables told in the gospels. The story is traditionally retold and explained focusing on the figure of the prodigal son or the prodigal father whereas the focus on elder brother in the original story is often lost in retelling the parable. 
 

Simon Peter acknowledges his sinfulness and inadequacies and yet the Lord entrusts the ministry of leadership to him! Peter said, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” It’s the way the Bible tells of the encounter with the Lord: Moses covers his face because he is afraid (Exodus 3:6); Elijah covers his face with his mantle (1 King 19:13). Like Isaiah—we saw it in the first reading—Peter also feels sinful.

Today’s Gospel is set in a controversial context. After Jesus drove out the merchants from the holy place (Mark 11:15-18), the angered religious authorities come with tricky questions, to weigh his every word in order to find some pretext to accuse him and to take him out of the way. 
 

In the last part of last Sunday’s passage, we heard Jesus declare, “I am the bread of life.” He is the “bread” as the wisdom of God. Anyone who assimilates his proposal will satisfy the hunger and thirst for happiness and love (John 6:35).
 

He who works needs to take a break. That’s why, at the return from their mission, the apostles are invited by Jesus to rest for a while. The apostles, after accomplishing their mission, gather around the Master, and report what they have done and taught. After listening, he invites them to retire with him apart into a desert place, away from the crowds.
 

Can the growth of God’s Kingdom be accelerated? Jesus responds to this question with a short parable. He draws our attention to the time of growth. The time for man to stop working comes after the planting season. Days and nights follow and the farmer sleeps and keeps watch without being able to intervene in the growth. It is useless to be restless or worried, the process in place is no longer dependent on him. If he agitates, enters in the field, he will trample and destroy the tender shoots.

Who is this person, Jesus? Some say that he is out of his mind. Some accuses him of being in league with Satan. While the public debates over this question, the family in Nazareth hears the news from Capernaum and comes to take him back home. 
 
When his mother, brothers and sisters arrive at Capernaum, Jesus is in the house, in the middle of a circle of people. They do not come in; they want to talk to him and expect him to come out. 
 

In primitive communities, baptism was administered in the name of Jesus. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, turned to the people and urged them to repent and be baptised “in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven” (Acts 2:38). The custom of baptising in the name of the Trinity was introduced later. It is the formula that Matthew puts in the mouth of the Risen One. It reflects the liturgical practice of the second half of the first century A.D. 
 

In the Old Testament, God is often portrayed as a shepherd who guides, protects, and nourishes his people (Psalms 80:2; 23); “he gathers the lambs in his arms, and gently leading those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11). He takes care of Israel that has been brought to ruin by unworthy kings and promises: “I will gather the remnant of my sheep from every land to which I have driven them and I will bring them back to the grasslands. They will be fruitful and increase in number.

Every year, on the first Sunday of Lent, the gospel is on the temptations of Jesus in the desert. In Mark’s brief narrative of the temptation it is the Spirit who, leads him into the wilderness.
 
If “to tempt” is tantamount to “incite to evil,” the Spirit does not do that. There are temptations that are not incitement to evil. These are the times when one is forced to make choices that are conducive occasions to make faith more solid and unwavering.