Word to the Wise
Friday, March 26, 2021 - 5th Week of Lent - Fri
[Jer 20:10-13 and John 10:31-42,329]"I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'? 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 is, in large part, about belief and non-belief. Do we believe that Jesus is the one whom God has sent? If so, do we believe what Jesus says when he calls God his "Father" and that he is more than a great man who was martyred by Roman authorities in collusion with Jewish authorities? Jesus' identity would be a subject of debate in the Christian community for nearly 400 years before the Councils of Nicea (325 AD) and Chalcedon (454 AD) settled the matter for the Church. There were some who believed Jesus was less than God (Arians) and some believed he was less than human (Docetists). The Gospel According to John reflects the debate early on between Jewish converts to Christianity and Jews who really believed that Jesus was blaspheming. "You, a man, are making yourself God."
Each year, the celebration of Holy Week, which begins this coming weekend with Palm Sunday, brings us to the center of belief. The gift of the Eucharist, the events of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus are commemorated not simply as past historical events but as present realities in a living faith to be proclaimed from then to now. But it is not only those events, as important as they are, that are proclaimed. Jesus' teachings remain with us after Easter. If we believe all that Holy Week teaches us, do we believe what Jesus proclaimed and taught before his death and resurrection? This is the work of the Holy Spirit and we have Jesus' own command: "As the Father sent me, so I send you." [John 20:21]. The work of the disciple is never-ending! AMEN .