Word to the Wise
Friday, March 23, 2018 - 5th Week of Lent - Fri
[Jer 20:10-13 and John 10:31-42]"We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God." [John]
The Gospel According to John seems to fall into two distinct parts (plus the 'Prologue' and the 'Appendix') which tradition and scripture scholars call the Book of Signs [Chaps. 1-12 and the Book of Glory [Chaps. 13-20]. Today's gospel scripture is taken from near the end of the Book of Signs, which means that the dramatic tension is building between Jesus and his adversaries (which John refers to as "the Jews," but not in what we might call an 'anti-semitic' way, since the earliest Christians still thought of themselves as Jews). Jesus' identity is coming into focus and its implications are alarming to some of the audience. How can a human be God?
In today's passage, Jesus replies on two levels. He argues that the Old Testament bears witness to the possibility that God may become human. But, more for our purposes today, he refers his adversaries to his "signs." In the Gospel According to John, the 'signs' are not just acts of compassion as we might find in the other three gospels. The 'signs' in John are meant to be revelation about Jesus. His adversaries do not make the connection. They see only 'good deeds' which may have been done in the name of God but which did not make Jesus divine. They reject the testimony of the signs, which Jesus refers to as "works." "If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
The word we use - 'miracle' - has come to be used in a rather forensic way, as "proof" of God's existence and power. In the Gospel According to John, the signs are revelation of Jesus as the one whom God has sent into the world as a sign of God's love. This is a far more personal way. Just like the "Jews" in the Gospel According to John, we are challenged to an act of faith in Jesus as the one whom God has sent. During Holy Week and in the days that follow, the Gospel According to John will be read. Are we ready to meet that challenge? AMEN