Word to the Wise
Friday, April 4, 2025 - 4th Week of Lent - Fri
[Wis 2:1a, 12-22 and John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30,322]"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord....Let us condemn him to a shameful death.." [Wisdom] So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, 'You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. [John]
As Holy Week draws closer, the gospel scriptures are taken more and more from the Gospel According to John. It is easily the most "dramatic" of the gospels and we see an example of the building "dramatic tension" in today's passage. The Book of Wisdom gives us an insight into the kind of thinking that Jesus' adversaries were doing. The theme of "Jesus is the one whom God has sent" shows up and another "theme" - Jesus' "hour" - is also featured. This latter theme appeared early in the gospel at Cana when Jesus replies to his mother's comment about the wine running out: "My hour has not yet come!" [John 2:4]. This is not "clock time" but event or dramatic time. The gospel today says that the authorities (thinking the way Wisdom tells us) wanted to arrest Jesus "but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not come." That "hour" would occur when Jesus is "lifted up" on the cross. [cf. John 3:14-15]
All of this "dramatic tension" can serve as a reminder to us that Lent is meant to direct us toward the events of Holy Week. The scriptures are our guide. We are invited, as in all good drama, to enter into the experience and identify with the characters. Jesus "escapes" today, but the signs of restoring sight to the man born blind [John 9] and the raising of Lazarus [John 11:1-44] are still ahead to incite his adversaries even more. Jesus' own reflection on his "hour" [John 12:27-32] speaks directly to the growing awareness. The Book of Wisdom shows us the kind of thinking they are doing. The "Songs of the Suffering Servant" from Isaiah, during Holy Week, will sharpen our awareness of the "hour" that is coming on Good Friday!! AMEN