15 MARCH 2024
FRIDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Wisdom 2:1.12-22
Psalm 34
John 7:1-2.10.25-30
It is just over a week now to the beginning of Holy Week, the week when we remember the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The gospel readings are beginning to have a more ominous tone and the decision to kill Jesus becomes more intense. In this morning’s gospel reading we hear of Jesus’ enemies who want to arrest him and are out to kill him. There are others in the gospel reading who are not hostile to him but they claim to know him when in reality they do not know him. They say about Jesus, ‘We all know where he comes from’. By that they mean that they know he is from Nazareth in Galilee. However, Jesus reminds them that they do not really know where he comes from, because he doesn’t just come from Nazareth. He comes from God and those who claim to know where he comes from are not aware of that. Jesus says to them, ‘There is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him’. Today's gospel reading suggests that Jesus did not allow the hostility of some people towards him to deter him from doing what he had been sent to do. Twice in that gospel reading Jesus speaks of himself as having come from God and of God as having sent him. Jesus was faithful to his God-given mission, even when that mission made people very hostile towards him. How do we react in the face of challenges, oppositions and hostilities on us for the sake of the gospel we preach and the good Christian life that we have chosen to live? Jesus teaches us to be faithful to our own calling, regardless of the environment in which we find ourselves. The environment in which we live has not been all that supportive of a life of faith. We could easily get very discouraged as people of faith who are trying to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
Sometimes, like the group of people who claimed to know Jesus in the gospel, we too may be tempted to feel and claim that we know all we need to know about Jesus, and this can make us lazy, it can make us relent in our quest to further see to know Christ. But truth is, there is so much more for us to know about Jesus than we now realize. There is always more to, and about Jesus than we have known. When it comes to our knowledge of the Lord, we are always seekers, we are always searching. In one of his letters, Paul prays that we would ‘know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge’. There is a love to Jesus that cannot be fully grasped by the human heart or mind while we are on earth. As Paul says elsewhere, now we see as in a mirror dimly; it is only in eternity that we will see the Lord face to face and know him as he knows us. In the meantime we are on this wonderful voyage of discovery in his regard.
As we gradually approach Holy Week, we have to know that we would have to face more oppositions from the ungodly people all around us just as the just man in the first Reading, and Jesus in the gospel reading faced. We shouldn't be distracted,
concerning ourselves about the origins of Jesus to the point of failing to grasp and accept the message he has brought to us from God.
May we remain steadfast in our service of God despite the whispering s of opposition and hostility around us. We ought not to pay heed to them, rather, let us focus on our Lord who is always close to the broken-hearted.
Let us be more intent in knowing Jesus and seeking him. The picture of Jesus in today’s gospel reading teaches us to keep living out our baptismal vows to the best, and witness to the gospel even when it is difficult to do so. Just as Jesus knew the support of his heavenly Father, we will know the support of Jesus as he has promised to be with us till the end of time.
-PadreCharlesLwanga.
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