Saturday of 4th Week in Lent

 

Sign of Contradiction

It is hard for a person who “has been seduced by God,” as Jeremiah says, to be rejected by the very community to which one has dedicated one’s life and before which one bears witness to the spiritual. He is a source of division. So was Jesus. Are we willing to take the risks of being Christian, of being signs of contradiction with Christ? If we can, it will surely hurt. We will be contradicted and ridiculed. Can we accept this with equanimity? It has become our responsibility when we were baptized.

 

First Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20 

God told me what was going on. That’s how I knew.
    You, God, opened my eyes to their evil scheming.
I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb
    being led to slaughter!
I didn’t know they had it in for me,
    didn’t know of their behind-the-scenes plots:
“Let’s get rid of the preacher.
    That will stop the sermons!
Let’s get rid of him for good.
    He won’t be remembered for long.”

Then I said, “God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    you’re a fair judge.
You examine and cross-examine
    human actions and motives.
I want to see these people shown up and put down!
    I’m an open book before you. Clear my name.”

 

Gospel: John 7:40-53 

Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there was a split in the crowd over him. Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

 That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?”

The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.”

The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble? You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees? It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.”

Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”

But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean? Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”

Then they all went home.

 

Prayer

Almighty God,
when people encountered your Son,
he became a source of division:
he affected their lives
one way or another.
May we accept him fully
and empty ourselves to make room for him
in our everyday life, even when it hurts.
Help us, that with him
we may always seek and do your will.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

He draws close whomever he loves

The Gospel today presents yet another confrontation of Jesus with the ruling class – as we read through, we immediately realise it as, all too familiar occurrence of our present times, in our society. Invariably majority of people in power, be it in the time of Jesus or in the present day, in whichever part of the world they may be, live in fools’ paradise, telling themselves that the power and honour they possess are absolute and eternal! Dictators have ruled nations of the world and many of them do even today, believing nothing in the universe can overthrow them. This foolish sense of infallibility raises in them a contempt for ordinary people. They discarded common people as illiterate and uneducated.

The temple authorities realised that Jesus was a growing nuisance. He had repeatedly questioned their style of observing the Sabbath and both Jesus and the disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath law. He welcomed the sinners and tax-collectors – the socially outcast people into his company and shared meals with them.

But what shocked the Pharisees and the priests most was the act of Jesus raising Lazarus to life. People regarded him as the Prophet or the Messiah. The scribes and the Pharisees could not appreciate the openness and mercy of God that Jesus revealed through his life. They had monopolised the concepts of temple, scriptures and God. The ordinary people had no easy access to God except through them. Jesus preached a different face of God. The leadership wanted to discredit Jesus. They assigned the temple Police to find faults in his teachings to arrest him.

False accusations, unjust detentions and unfair trails and wrong sentencing are nothing uncommon even in our times. They would capture and torture Jesus and will kill him for raising someone to life. But, through his dying, Jesus will give life to all who come to him.

Despite the threats from the powers that be, whoever came in contact with the person of Jesus, grew in admiration of him. Jesus is a magnet – he draws close to him whomever he loves. The temple police who were assigned to arrest Jesus became his admirers. Nicodemus who had initially approached Jesus by night, would choose to step out from the darkness, courageously allowing himself to be identified. He would appear again at the foot of the Cross to bury the body of Jesus.

The history repeats. The cry of the suffering majority for justice and their right to live in dignity are suppressed by the powers that be. This powerful minority would determine the future of the hapless majority. This is the logic of this world. But the dictators and emperors of the past have disappeared into oblivion. Jesus and his Church thrive, giving God’s life to the world.

 

Video available on Youtube : He draws close to whomever he loves