Word to the Wise
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - 4th Week of Lent - Tues
[Ezek 47:1-9, 12 and John 5:1-3a, 5-16]The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.
As Lent moves us toward the climactic events of Holy Week, the selection of the scripture passages is designed to build up the "dramatic tension" surrounding Jesus' conflict with existing religious authority. In the Gospel of John, scripture scholars point out that the selection of incidents by the authors may reflect the concerns of the community at the time of the writing of the gospel. Expulsion from the synagogue and separation from Jewish tradition would be traumatic and can account for the strong language that this gospel features in regard to "the Jews." It is not a matter of anti-Semitism as we understand it in our modern times, but rather resentment at persecution and loss of something very important. It is one thing to be persecuted by a pagan force such as the Romans. It is quite another to be persecuted by your own co-religionists over a disagreement concerning the identity of the Messiah!
One could focus on the issue of healing on the Sabbath but that misses the larger point. Jesus presents himself as having the power of life that is proper to God and thus more powerful than the force of Mosaic observance. This would be a major threat to the Pharisees, especially the Jerusalem Pharisees. If he causes a disturbance, the Sadducees (temple aristocracy who forged a "live and let live" attitude with the Romans) would consider him a direct threat to their position because the Romans made little distinction between this or that Jewish groups!
To enter into the drama of Jesus' journey toward death and resurrection requires some effort. We must focus less on looking forward to the end of Lent and focus more on the person of Jesus as shown to us in the gospel accounts. It requires attention to the building tension between Jesus and the religious establishment of his time, recognizing why he would be such a threat! The kind of asceticism that this effort represents is closer to the original purpose of Lent: to prepare for Easter. Doing a penance without a purpose makes no sense. AMEN
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