4th Week of Lent

FOLLOWING JESUS THROUGH LENT

How to meet Jesus

1. Give time every day. Sit quietly in a comfortable position, recollect yourself. Concentrate on Jesus who is present to you. Call on the Holy Spirit, your Teacher and Guide. Take your time. There is no rush and there is no fixed rule to follow. Be free in the Spirit.

2. Be aware that Jesus is with you. Use a mantra if you like, e.g. ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ..’

3. Read the passage with Jesus who was there and in the Holy Spirit who inspired it. It is a dialogue. You want to get to know Jesus, to get a new insight into ‘the Son of Man’. Understand the meaning of the passage, use a commentary if necessary.

4. Try and live the passage in your imagination. Remember it is not just imagination because Jesus is present now with you. Put yourself in the scene.

2010 Mar 14 SUN:    FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT.
                                    Jos 5:9-12 / 2 Cor 5:17-21/ Lk 15: 1-3, 11-32

¹ The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him, ² and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.' ³ So he told them this parable:

¹¹ Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them. ¹³ A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. ¹⁴ 'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; ¹⁵ so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. ¹⁷ Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; ¹⁹ I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men." ²⁰ So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him. ²¹ Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." ²² But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, ²⁴ because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate. ²⁵ 'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. ²⁶ Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. ²⁷ The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." ²⁸ He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in; ²⁹ but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening." ³¹ 'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. ³² But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." '

It was a strange family. The father let the son go. He had two sons and neither of them knew him. The younger son did eventually know his father when he returned home. Did the elder son ever know him? He was close but far away. If only we knew our Father in heaven. Verse twenty gives a clue as to who he is: while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Moved with pity he ran out, fell on his neck and kissed him. Then he gave him a royal welcome which was unimaginable considering what he had done. But his son’s value was not what he had done but who he was. Jesus is trying to tell us that is how God looks on you. We can hardly believe it. The Good News is, it is true. His love makes up for our failings.

2010 Mar 15 Mon:    4th Lenten Wk  / Is 65:17-21 / Jn 4:43-54.

⁴³ When the two days were over Jesus left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ He himself had declared that a prophet is not honoured in his own home town. ⁴⁵ On his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended. ⁴⁶ He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum; ⁴⁷ hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son, as he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and portents you will not believe!' ⁴⁹ 'Sir,' answered the official, 'come down before my child dies.' ⁵⁰ 'Go home,' said Jesus, 'your son will live.' The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home; ⁵¹ and while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. ⁵² He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. They replied, 'The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.' ⁵³ The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, 'Your son will live'; and he and all his household believed. ⁵⁴ This new sign, the second, Jesus performed on his return from Judaea to Galilee.

We can see this official coming up to Jesus and urgently requesting Him to go and heal his son. Jesus saw how people came to Him for miracles and the crowd came to see miracles but it went no deeper than that. He rebukes them and then refuses to work a stunning miracle. He tells the man to go home: “your son will live”. That was all He said. The official had to believe His word and go. He did believe. Do we need miracles once we know Jesus through prayer and the Gospels?  His word is enough. His word is true and is the rock of our life. Jesus’ word is creative. It is a healing and saving word. It is a word that leads us. May you listen to it daily till you come to see the One who speaks it.

2010 Mar 16 Tue:      4th Lenten Wk / Ez 47: 1-9, 12/ Jn 5: 1-16

¹ After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos; ³ and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed. ^{4 5} One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, ⁶ and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, 'Do you want to be well again?' ⁷ 'Sir,' replied the sick man, 'I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.' ⁸ Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.' ⁹ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, ¹⁰ so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, 'It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.' ¹¹ He replied, 'But the man who cured me told me, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around." ' ¹² They asked, 'Who is the man who said to you, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around"? ' ¹³ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded. ¹⁴ After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, 'Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.' ¹⁵ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. ¹⁶ It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.

What was this man doing at the pool of Bethastha? It was a pool dedicated to a pagan god of healing. He could do nothing for himself and he received no healing. Jesus comes to the pool of unbelief and heals the man by the power of his word alone. There is no salvation apart from Jesus. However the man doesn’t know who has healed him. Jesus will not reveal himself in a place of darkness. He reveals himself in the Temple of Yahweh. He warns the man not to sin any more. He should give up his lack of faith since he has met the living God in Jesus. Jesus has restored him to physical health. He should not lose his eternal life by sin. Both the man at the pool and we too should know that sin brings eternal death and there is no great affliction than this.

2010 Mar 17 Wed:     4th Lenten Wk / Is 49: 8-15/ Jn 5: 17-30

¹⁷ His answer to them was, 'My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.' ¹⁸ But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he spoke of God as his own Father and so made himself God's equal. ¹⁹ To this Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, by himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you. ²¹ Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses; ²² for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son, ²³ so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever refuses honour to the Son refuses honour to the Father who sent him. ²⁴ In all truth I tell you, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgement such a person has passed from death to life. ²⁵ In all truth I tell you, the hour is coming -- indeed it is already here -- when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; ²⁷ and, because he is the Son of man, has granted him power to give judgement. ²⁸ Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: ²⁹ those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgement. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I can judge only as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus has just cured the man, sick for thirty eight years, on the Sabbath. The man does not respond to the miracle with faith. He shows a conspicuous lack of understanding and goes to tell the enemies of Jesus. The Jews are shocked. This is against the Sabbath Law as they understand it. Jesus defends himself by claiming to be equal with God whom he calls his Father. His Word has the power of God’s Word. He gives life by his Word and those who hear it have eternal life and the dead who hear it will live. Even those in tombs will hear his voice and come out like Lazarus. Jesus’ Word will raise the righteous to life with God. Pray that Jesus will speak his creative word over you to give you holiness. “All holiness comes from you, through Jesus Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer III).

2010 Mar 18 Thu:      4th Lenten Wk / Ex 32: 7-14/ Jn 5: 31-47

³¹ Were I to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be true; ³² but there is another witness who speaks on my behalf, and I know that his testimony is true. ³³ You sent messengers to John, and he gave his testimony to the truth- ³⁴ not that I depend on human testimony; no, it is for your salvation that I mention it. ³⁵ John was a lamp lit and shining and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave. ³⁶ But my testimony is greater than John's: the deeds my Father has given me to perform, these same deeds of mine testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ Besides, the Father who sent me bears witness to me himself. You have never heard his voice, you have never seen his shape, ³⁸ and his word finds no home in you because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. ³⁹ You pore over the scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these scriptures that testify to me, ⁴⁰ and yet you refuse to come to me to receive life! ⁴¹ Human glory means nothing to me. ⁴² Besides, I know you too well: you have no love of God in you. ⁴³ I have come in the name of my Father and you refuse to accept me; if someone else should come in his own name you would accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, since you look to each other for glory and are not concerned with the glory that comes from the one God? ⁴⁵ Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father: you have placed your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be the one who accuses you. ⁴⁶ If you really believed him you would believe me too, since it was about me that he was writing; ⁴⁷ but if you will not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?

The ominous clouds of the Passion have appeared. There is constant opposition to Jesus. He is on trial. He claims to be sent by God and to be God. Yet he talks of the Father as a different Person. The Jews cannot accept that. There is only one God. How can Jesus also be God? It is blasphemy. He invokes the witness of John whom the Jews accepted f or a while. He then invokes the works that he does. The Jews cannot deny them. He calls on his Father’s witness. They do not know the Father. He calls on the Scriptures. The Scriptures speaks of him. Life does not come from a study of the Scriptures. Life comes from the Living Word, Jesus. The Jews refused to believe in him. Do you believe in Jesus? Do you know him as Lord, Saviour and Friend?

2010 Mar 19 Fri:        4th Lenten Wk / St JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY 

                                    (Solemnity) Wis 2: 1a, 12-22 / Jn 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30

¹ After this Jesus travelled round Galilee; he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. ² As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near,

¹⁰ However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.

²⁵ Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, 'Isn't this the man they want to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have recognised that he is the Christ? ²⁷ Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.' ²⁸ Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: You know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of my own accord: but he who sent me is true; You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me. ³⁰ They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him

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Jesus must have felt like an alien. He had come for mankind. He wanted to embody God’s love for them. He wanted to be so close, but they could not understand him. The Jews had their own views. They had their own agenda for God. He didn’t fit it into it. They were closed and hardened towards him. They were not going to change. Jesus couldn’t change either. What he said was the truth. He was the Truth about God. They knew he was claiming to be God separate from the Father, but God was one. Ironically they knew his home of Nazareth but not his origin. It was an impasse. To accept Jesus’ Word we must first accept him. To believe his Word we must first believe in him. Then like Peter we will know he has “the words of eternal life”. Who is Jesus in your life?

2010 Mar 20 Sat:       4th Lenten Wk / Jer 11: 18-20/ Jn 7: 40-53

⁴⁰ Some of the crowd who had been listening said, 'He is indeed the prophet,' ⁴¹ and some said, 'He is the Christ,' but others said, 'Would the Christ come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from Bethlehem, the village where David was?' ⁴³ So the people could not agree about him. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to arrest him, but no one actually laid a hand on him. ⁴⁵ The guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, 'Why haven't you brought him?' ⁴⁶ The guards replied, 'No one has ever spoken like this man.' ⁴⁷ 'So,' the Pharisees answered, 'you, too, have been led astray? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities come to believe in him? Any of the Pharisees? ⁴⁹ This rabble knows nothing about the Law -- they are damned.' ⁵⁰ One of them, Nicodemus -- the same man who had come to Jesus earlier -- said to them, ⁵¹ 'But surely our Law does not allow us to pass judgement on anyone without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is doing?' ⁵² To this they answered, 'Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not arise in Galilee.' ⁵³ They all went home,

The discussion about Jesus may have started two thousand years ago in Palestine but it goes on today. They were talking about him. Some were saying one thing and others another. “He is the Messiah’, ‘How can he be? The Messiah won’t come from Galilee’. Some wanted to arrest him. None of them knew Jesus. If we know Jesus in humble, sincere and searching prayer we will know who he is. It is not discussion whether in the classroom or the market place that is of value. We must meet Jesus himself in quiet prayer and we must search till we find him there. As Holy Week approaches and the division for and against Jesus ccrystallises, where do you really stand? Have you chosen Jesus and love him with all your heart? Are you like Nicodemus – a timid and fearful believer in the midst of opposing forces?