Wednesday of the
Fourth Week of Lent
(Isaiah 49:8-15; John 5:17-30)
The Jews in Babylon must have heard the promises that
Isaiah makes in the first reading on behalf of God in the first reading as
incredible. They probably asked
themselves how could they escape from the mighty arms of their captors. They likely wondered as well how they could
transverse the torrid desert that lay between them and their homeland.
Many hear Jesus’ claims in the gospel with similar
questions in mind. “How,” they ask, “can
people rise from the dead?” In an
atmosphere where truth is determined by repeated experiment, rising from the
dead is indeed beyond realistic possibility.