4TH WEEK OF LENT
St. Patrick, bishop
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)
Ps 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
1st Reading: Jer 11:18-20
Yahweh made it known to me and so I know! And you let me see their scheming: “Take care, even your kinsfolk and your own family are false with you, and behind your back they freely criticize you. Do not trust them when they approach you in a friendly way.”
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me that they were plotting, “Let us feed him with trials and remove him from the land of the living and let his name never be mentioned again.”
Yahweh, God of Hosts, you who judge with justice and know everyone’s heart and intentions, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Gospel: Jn 7:40-53
Many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Doesn’t Scripture say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?” The crowd was divided over him. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers of the temple went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the law!”
Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.” And they all went home.
Reflections
NO ONE HAS EVER SPOKEN LIKE THIS MAN
We always think that if Jesus were living with us now, it would be easier for us to believe. I don’t think so. Just the opposite. In fact the people who were his neighbors were the first to doubt him since they saw him as an ordinary boy, an ordinary man, the son of their neighbor carpenter Joseph and his wife Mary who is the friend of the wives in the neighborhood. So how could they believe that this ordinary man is indeed the Son of God the Savior of the World, the King of the world to come. That is why when they heard him speak they could not but exclaim: NO ONE HAS EVER SPOKEN LIKE THIS MAN. Because aside from being just their neighbor, he was saying things that contradicted all they had been taught. He would say, “It has been said of old…BUT I SAY TO YOU…” Instead of hating enemies, He said one must love one’s enemies. Instead of a “tooth for a tooth” he says one must forgive 70 times 7 times. Instead of lamenting that one is poor, one should feel blessed. He said his flesh is food indeed and his blood is drink indeed. And finally he said, 3 days after he would be crucified, HE SHALL RISE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD. No one has indeed ever spoken like this man, because he is not a mere man, but is truly the SON OF GOD.
Daily Reflection 2018
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