Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)
The bitter debate in today’s gospel between Jesus and “the
Jews” likely reflects early New Testament times. The Jews were reforming after the destruction
of the Temple. They saw Christians of
Jewish heritage as apostates. Like those
in the passage attempting to stone Jesus, later Jews wanted to remove
Christians from their synagogues.
Today many educational and commercial leaders have dismissed
Christian beliefs as false claims. Like “the
Jews” of the gospel they do not believe that Jesus was divine or, for that
matter, that a personal God exists. They
don’t accept his resurrection and ridicule the Eucharist as “hocus pocus.” Particularly at this time of year Christians
need to renew their commitment to Christ.
At the Mass on Easter we do just that. Renewing our Baptismal vows, we, like Jesus
responding to “the Jews,” declare our belief in a merciful God who became like
us so that we may be like Him. Like the
founders of the American republic to the government they created, we pledge “our
lives, our fortunes, and our honor” to our faith in Jesus Christ.
