Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In a movie about the revolution in Nicaragua, a peasant boy tells an American helicopter pilot that he wants to fly.  The airman takes the boy for a ride in his helicopter, but the flight does not satisfy the boy’s desire.  He explains that he wants to fly like a bird, not to be transported in a flying machine.

The story illustrates the lesson that Jesus gives in the gospel today.  The Jews think they are free because they are not slaves of anyone.  But this is very limited freedom.  Jesus would provide them full freedom where they could act as righteously as they deeply desire.  It is the freedom of Yo-yo Ma on the cello or Venus Williams on the tennis court.

As Jesus says, freedom comes from accepting him as God’s Son.  He brings the rule of life that disengages us from attachments to fortune, fame, and force and sets our sights on eternal life.  He accomplishes this by sending us the Holy Spirit.  The grace of the Holy Spirit is what the coming Easter season is all about.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Numbers 21:4-9; John 8:21-30)

The Reverend William Sloan Coffin Jr., a prominent peace activist, used to say that he had a “lover’s quarrel with America.”  He served the country as a CIA agent but thought some of its international policies were wrong-headed.  We might see Jesus in today’s gospel as having “a lover’s quarrel” with Judaism.

Jesus is in the midst of a debate with the Jews.  He is, of course, Jewish himself but is opposing standard Jewish teaching.  He tells them that he has much to say to condemn current Jewish doctrine.  He concludes that when he is lifted up on the cross, the world will know that his criticisms of Judaism are just.

We should realize that the dialogue in this gospel was framed long after Jesus’ death.  Christians and Jews were much at odds because of Roman persecution of both.  John, the evangelist, writes as if Jesus defies his own people.  This is likely an exaggeration.  But it is true that Jews cannot accept Jesus’ divinity as we do.  A central issue is Jesus’ death on the cross.  For Jews it is the ultimate stumbling block. “How could God allow himself to be crucified?” they ask.  For us Jesus’ allowing himself to be crucified in obedience to God, his Father, indicates his divine nature. 

Monday, March 14, 2016

Monday of the Fifth Week in Lent

(Daniel 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; John 8:12-20)

Once a rabbi gathered his disciples round him.  He then asked, “How does one know when night ends and day begins”?  “When you can distinguish between the olive and the fig trees in your garden?” answered one disciple. “No,” the master said, “that is not right.”  Another student tried, “When you can tell the difference between a cow and a dog on the horizon.”  Again the rabbi said, “I am sorry. You don’t have the correct answer either.”  The disciples, a bit frustrated, raised their voices together.  “Tell us,” they said, “when does the night end and the day begin?”  The rabbi replied, “All right, the night ends and the day begins when you can look into a stranger’s eye and see a brother.  Until then, you are walking in darkness.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus presents himself as the light of the world who enables humans to see strangers as sister and brothers.  He commands love for all – friend or foe – so that people may live in solidarity.  He shows himself wiser than Daniel in the first reading who ferrets out the truth to save the innocent Susanna.  Jesus is wiser because he goes beyond justice to reconciliation with one’s enemies.

As Lent winds down, we might take a personal inventory.  Let us ask ourselves if we have grown in love through our Lenten sacrifices.  Do we pray that those who persecute others may reform?  Do we affirm the good in those whom we dislike?  Are we patient with the shortcomings of those with whom we live?  Like the forty-year journey of the Israelites through the desert, the purpose of Lent is to mold us into God’s holy people.  We have arrived at our destination when we love all people from the heart.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Friday of the Fourth Week in Lent

 

(Wisdom 2:1a.12-22; John 7:1-2.10.25-30)

In their quest to understand others, people say things like that they “know where the person is coming from.”  They mean that the person’s different way of thinking can be attributed to her cultural background.  In today’s gospel the Jerusalemites think that they have Jesus figured out because he comes from Galilee.

Jesus, however, has other origins besides his Galilean upbringing.  He was sent by God to accomplish the work of human redemption.  This truth will not be patent until he rises from the dead, but his followers perceive it now.   Yet God is always acting behind the scene as it were.  The passage implies that God prohibits the authorities from arresting Jesus because, as it reads, “his hour had not yet come.”

We may feel tempted to see Jesus as another human being.  We may want to say that he garnered stories of field and fishing through his experiences in Galilee.  We may credit him with heroic virtue because of an unusually strong mother.  And then we may fall in line with modernists who deny Jesus’ divinity.  If we are to maintain our Christian identity, we must resist the temptation.  The Church stakes everything on Jesus’ divine nature.  It prompted him to sacrifice all for human redemption, and it assured him of an eternal destiny.  This nature has been bestowed on us, not by birth but by the grace of Baptism.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Exodus 32:7-14; John 5:31-47)

Someone once asked a prominent lawyer what is the crucial factor in a winning case.  The questioner proposed different alternatives like a fair judge, a sympathetic jury, or a cooperative client.  The lawyer responded that none of these were as helpful as one credible witness.  In the gospel today Jesus presents several credible witnesses to the Jews that he is the Son of God.

Specifically, Jesus points to John the Baptist, his miracles, the Father, and the Scriptures as witnesses to his claim. John said earlier in the gospel (1:34) that Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus has also performed mighty works like turning water into wine.  The Father testifies within the hearts of Jesus’ own disciples who follow him unreservedly.  Finally, the Scriptures give testimony to Jesus by such statements as “Zeal for your house will consume me” (2:17) when he throws the merchants out of the Temple. 

We are not to blame the Jews in the gospel for denying that Jesus is God’s Son.  If they could have looked objectively, they would have seen him as divine.  But the Jews were committed to the view that the Messiah would achieve military wonders.  We do not share that expectation.  Rather we accept Jesus as an elder brother who sacrifices his life for our welfare.  His example shows us how to practice virtue.  More importantly, his death wakes us from the sinful inclination to live for ourselves.