Word to the Wise
Friday, April 3, 2020 - 5th Week of Lent - Fri
[Jer 20:10-13 and John 10:31-42]"If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 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 and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." [John]
The Gospel According to John has a very adversarial quality to it. Words like testimony and judgment appear. Contrasts like light and dark, blindness and sight, above and below are common. According to many scripture scholars this adversarial quality reflects the situation of the Christian community and preaching in the Jewish world at the time the gospel was composed - 90-110 AD. Those who believed in Jesus and his teachings found themselves expelled from their synagogues, and the evangelist (and others who contributed to the composition) was among them. It would be natural to be exasperated and resentful of the stubborn refusal of others to see the truth of and about Jesus.
This is not something of the past. Each year, students with strong faith find themselves criticized or mocked in certain classes at universities by teachers who abuse their powerful position to attack the religious faith of these students. It seems almost required that academia assume a "neutral" (whatever that can be?) or "agnostic" stance. What the students see as true and life-giving is flatly rejected as an acceptable form of information. Yes, students of faith must learn the proper discipline of a given area of study and professors have the right to insist on that. But rejection of faith as a positive contribution to understanding any area of human knowledge seems to acknowledge that faith is a threat. What Jesus brought and taught was a threat to a long standing and divinely approved faith which could be fulfilled by Jesus, but which rejected him. This accounts for the adversarial and tragic tone of the Gospel According to John. The drama of Holy Week is beginning to unfold and the curtain will rise on Palm Sunday. AMEN