5th Sunday of Lent

FOLLOWING JESUS THROUGH LENT

The Dawn of Mercy

2010 Mar 21 SUN:    FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

                                    Is 43: 16-21 / Phil 3: 8-14 / Jn 8: 1-11

¹Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle ⁴ they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, ⁵ and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?' ⁶ They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷ As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.' ⁸ Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground.

Have you the courage to meet Jesus? Today’s Gospel gives the answer. Jesus is deeply affected by our response. The Jews opposed him constantly. Jesus was scathing in his judgement of their sinful hypocrisy. He even said, “You will die in your sin”. But Jesus has another side. Here is a woman, caught in the act of sin, dragged into his presence. Jesus does not take the side of those who would punish her with death. On the other hand he does not condone her sin. He is strong in his opposition to her unjust aggressors. To the woman in misery he is the personification of kindness and gentleness. He refuses to pass judgement. He only appeals to her to repent and not to sin again. We can approach him in our sinfulness because our high priest can feel for us in our weakness (Heb 4:15) We are the woman.  

2010 Mar 22 Mon:    5th Lenten Wk

                                    Dn 13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13: 14c-62 / Jn 8: 1-11

John 11:1-46

¹ There was a man named Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha, and he was ill. ² It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ The sisters sent this message to Jesus, 'Lord, the man you love is ill.' ⁴ On receiving the message, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death, but it is for God's glory so that through it the Son of God may be glorified.' ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ yet when he heard that he was ill he stayed where he was for two more days ⁷ before saying to the disciples, 'Let us go back to Judaea.' ⁸ The disciples said, 'Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews were trying to stone you; are you going back there again?' ⁹ Jesus replied: Are there not twelve hours in the day? No one who walks in the daytime stumbles, having the light of this world to see by; ¹⁰ anyone who walks around at night stumbles, having no light as a guide. ¹¹ He said that and then added, 'Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him.' ¹² The disciples said to him, 'Lord, if he is at rest he will be saved.' ¹³ Jesus was speaking of the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by 'rest' he meant 'sleep'; ¹⁴ so Jesus put it plainly, 'Lazarus is dead; ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.' ¹⁶ Then Thomas -- known as the Twin -- said to the other disciples, 'Let us also go to die with him.' ¹⁷ On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. ¹⁸ Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, ²² but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.' ²³ Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' ²⁴ Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.' ²⁵ Jesus said: I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live, ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? ²⁷ 'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.' ²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, 'The Master is here and wants to see you.' ²⁹ Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who were in the house comforting Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' ³³ At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who had come with her, Jesus was greatly distressed, and with a profound sigh he said, ³⁴ 'Where have you put him?' They said, 'Lord, come and see.' ³⁵ Jesus wept; ³⁶ and the Jews said, 'See how much he loved him!' ³⁷ But there were some who remarked, 'He opened the eyes of the blind man. Could he not have prevented this man's death?' ³⁸ Sighing again, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. ³⁹ Jesus said, 'Take the stone away.' Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, 'Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day since he died.' ⁴⁰ Jesus replied, 'Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?' ⁴¹ So they took the stone away. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. ⁴² I myself knew that you hear me always, but I speak for the sake of all these who are standing around me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me. ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material, and a cloth over his face. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, let him go free.' ⁴⁵ Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done.

“Now Jesus loved, Martha, her sister and Lazarus” “So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was” How strange! Should he not have left immediately? Can we put Jesus into our categories? If we surrender to him, things will be well. If we are close to him and let him love us as he loved his friends in Bethany, we can rest assured. Let us not put conditions. Jesus wants trust and belief rather than understanding. “Lazarus had been in the tomb four days”. It would appear an impossible situation. “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live”. Even death cannot overcome one Jesus loves. Mary “fell at his feet”. When Jesus saw her weeping, “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” “He wept”. “Lazarus come out”. Be the friend of Jesus. You will live.

2010 Mar 23 Tue:      5th Lenten Wk / Nm 21: 4-9 / Jn 8: 21-30

²¹ Again he said to them: I am going away; you will look for me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. ²² So the Jews said to one another, 'Is he going to kill himself, that he says, "Where I am going, you cannot come?" ' ²³ Jesus went on: You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I have told you already: You will die in your sins. Yes, if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. ²⁵ So they said to him, 'Who are you?' Jesus answered: What I have told you from the outset. ²⁶ About you I have much to say and much to judge; but the one who sent me is true, and what I declare to the world I have learnt from him. ²⁷ They did not recognise that he was talking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said: When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of my own accord. What I say is what the Father has taught me; ²⁹ he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him. ³⁰ As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

 God alone is immortal and lives in unapproachable light and whom no one has ever seen or can see (1Tim6:16). Here is this man saying, if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins. Jesus repeats again. When you lift up the Son of Man you will realise that I AM. Talking of Abraham he will say, before Abraham was, I AM. He is a man just like them with all the weakness and fragility of a man’s life and he is saying I am Yahweh God. The Jews cannot accept this. But it is true. God has come from his unapproachable light and is among us. He is with us today too even hidden in the bread of the Eucharist. Can we accept he is present? He has come because he loves us and wants to be our friend. Is he your friend?

2010 Mar 24 Wed:     5th Lenten Wk / Dn 3: 14-20, 91-92, 95/ Jn 8: 31-42

³¹ To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; ³² you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ³³ They answered, 'We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, "You will be set free?" ' ³⁴ Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free. ³⁷ I know that you are descended from Abraham; but you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ³⁸ What I speak of is what I have seen at my Father's side, and you too put into action the lessons you have learnt from your father. ³⁹ They repeated, 'Our father is Abraham.' Jesus said to them: If you are Abraham's children, do as Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you want to kill me, a man who has told you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing your father's work. They replied, 'We were not born illegitimate, the only father we have is God.' ⁴² Jesus answered: If God were your father, you would love me, since I have my origin in God and have come from him; I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me.

Jesus invites us to remain in his Word and if we do we will know the truth, the truth about ourselves and the truth will make us free. If we do not listen to God’s Word we will be imprisoned in lies. We will be bound by a poor image of ourselves, feelings of inferiority, of being unloved and unappreciated, of worthless and of hatred for ourselves so that we have suicidal thoughts. God’s word will teach us that we are precious and so valuable that God became a man, loved you and died for you so that you can live with him forever in glory. Jesus is the one who makes us free, because he befriends us. He knows your worth and loves you. In daily prayer look for the one who searches for you. The Jews closed their hearts, may we open ours to Jesus and live.

2010 Mar 25 Thu:      5th Lenten Wk / Gn 17: 3-9/ Jn 8: 51-59
                                    ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD  (Solemnity)
                                    Is 7: 10-14; 8: 10/ Heb 10: 4-10/ Lk 1: 26-38

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.' ²⁹ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, ³⁰ but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour. ³¹ Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; ³³ he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.' ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?' ³⁵ The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. ³⁶ And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, ³⁷ for nothing is impossible to God.' ³⁸ Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.

Without God there could be no universe. Though everything existed through Him, He could not be seen or experienced. But He loved his world so much and men and women were precious to Him and so He decided to become one of them. They lived in moral darkness and sin. He would be their Shepherd and their Saviour. Today we celebrate how God embraces the human race by becoming man in the womb of the Virgin. Today He shows how valuable we are in his sight. Today he calls us his brothers and sisters, ‘I am one among you’. Today he stands at your door and knocks. If you open your door he will come into your life. People did not believe he was God. They persecuted him and then killed him. He didn’t give up. He continues to invite us to be his friend. Wht is your response?

2010 Mar 26 Fri:        5th Lenten Wk / Jer 20: 10-13 / Jn 10: 31-42

³¹ The Jews fetched stones to stone him, ³² so Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many good works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?' ³³ The Jews answered him, 'We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you claim to be God.' ³⁴ Jesus answered: Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? ³⁵ So it uses the word 'gods' of those people to whom the word of God was addressed -- and scripture cannot be set aside. ³⁶ Yet to someone whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world you say, 'You are blaspheming' because I said, 'I am Son of God.' ³⁷ If I am not doing my Father's work, there is no need to believe me; ³⁸ but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. ³⁹ They again wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded their clutches. ⁴⁰ He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to the district where John had been baptising at first and he stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people who came to him said, 'John gave no signs but all he said about this man was true'; ⁴² and many of them believed in him.

Who is interested in the Truth? It was difficult for the Jews to accept Jesus. The prophets had taught that there is only one God. Jesus says he is not the Father and yet he  is God. The Jews thought, ‘Does this not mean that there are two Gods? This is blasphemy.’ Yet they would not study the evidence of Jesus – his Words, his Works, his Life. They were closed. They would not get close to his Heart, to believe in Him. How many today are deeply interested in studying the claims of Jesus, to know the Truth? Do they not prefer to be undisturbed in their own traditions? Do we want to get close to Jesus? Do we fear it may upturn our lives? Are you satisfied with a ritualistic religion, with saying prayers, but not having a face to face encounter with Jesus in faith?

2010 Mar 27 Sat:       5th Lenten Wk / Ez 37: 21-28 / Jn 11:45-46

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. 'Here is this man working all these signs,' they said, 'and what action are we taking? ⁴⁸ If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and suppress the Holy Place and our nation.' ⁴⁹ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, 'You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; ⁵⁰ you fail to see that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish.' ⁵¹ He did not speak in his own person, but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation- ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the scattered children of God. ⁵³ From that day onwards they were determined to kill him. ⁵⁴ So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples. ⁵⁵ The Jewish Passover was drawing near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves ⁵⁶ were looking out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, 'What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?'

Jesus had said to the Jews, ‘the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man and will live’. Then Lazarus died and had been in the tomb four days when Jesus arrived. There was no fanfare, no great prayer of petition. Jesus simply stood by the tomb and said “Lazarus come forth”. The dead man heard his voice and came out. Many honest Jews believed in Jesus, but not the leaders. They hardened themselves even more. Jesus gave such a sign that he had come from God and must be accepted, but they reject Him and determine to kill him. Their thoughts are of this world only. Others like Mary, sister of Lazarus, will show extravagant love by anointing Jesus. Where do you stand? Can you imitate Mary? Have you a passion to hear his voice and live? Jesus invites us to believe in Him.