Saturday of the
Fourth Week of Lent, March 28, 2020
(Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 7:40-53)
If we listen for the Jewish trial of Jesus in the reading
of the Passion on Good Friday, we will be disappointed. Unlike Matthew and Mark, John does not show
the Sanhedrin meeting to review the evidence, listen to witnesses, and render a
verdict. But careful observers will note
how John runs a trial throughout the first part of the gospel. Jesus is continually being questioned, and
people are brought to give testimony about him.
Today’s gospel highlights this ongoing inquiry of the Jews about Jesus’
activities.
First, the Jews try to establish Jesus’ identity. Is he the long awaited prophet promised by
Moses, the Davidic Messiah who will lead the people to freedom, or a
charlatan? They do not achieve
unanimity, but nonpartisan guards testify that no one has ever spoken like
him. The Pharisees act like prosecuting
attorneys in the trial. Hostile to
Jesus, they try to discredit Nicodemus and everyone else who speaks in Jesus’
defense.
We readers of John’s gospel may want to involve ourselves
in the proceedings. Although we may have
gone to church all our lives, many of us wonder about Jesus. Like the Jews, we ask, “Is he really God?” We want to know if following him will bring
us through death to eternal happiness. Or
is Jesus, however talented, just a man incapable of delivering all he claims? From anyone else, we would dismiss such talk
as “pie in the sky.” However, we must
admit something different about him. His
wisdom, his preaching, his healings, his demonstrated love for others -- all
justify a positive verdict. And then
there is the testimony of the saints through the ages. Yes, he is Lord and we
would betray our deepest intuition not to follow him to the end.
