What do we want our lives to be like? And what are they like? And how do they reflect God's plan?

The Old Testament reading for today comes from Ecclus. 50:1,11-24.  The writer praises Simon, a great priest in the Temple, where he served God and was surrounded by what the writer recalls as a sort of perfection.  After recounting his fond recollection of Simon in his days, the writer concludes with this benediction:

"And now bless the God of all,who in every way does great things;who exalts our days from birth and deals with us according to his mercy. May he give us^[gladness of heart   and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel  as in the days of old. May he entrust to us his mercy And let him deliver us in our days!"

In other words, "Give us, God, the good old days, as we remember them, perhaps better than we were." 

The Gospel reading for today comes from Luke 13:31-35.  Some Pharisees warned Jesus that he should flee, because Herod wanted to kill him. It's unclear how these Pharisees otherwise related to Jesus: perhaps they were friends who were engaged by his teaching, perhaps they were enemies.  In any event, Jesus's situation had become such that even those who well may have been his enemies might take pity on him to warn him.  But Jesus disregards the warning. He came to Jerusalem to save Jerusalem: he came as a prophet, and saw Jerusalem as a place for prophets to die.  We might recall the glory days of Simon the Priest as a golden era of peace and perfection, but we are called to follow a Savior who traveled a hard path to which he was committed, even if it appeared to lead to disaster. 

The New Testament reading comes from Rev. 17:1-18.  Written years if not decades after the crucifixion, this passage records the vision of a man who had followed that Savior along a different, but still difficult path.  It was given to him to reveal the plan that God had for him and for salvation. It made sense to him: it may make no sense to us, unless we perhaps we analyze it to the point of reducing it of all meaning.  But the vision is there, and the plan is there, and we may be given to understand either or both, but perhaps only after a lifetime of longing for the good old days and dealing with the trouble at hand.