LENTEN REFLECTION
Lent Year A-II Day 38 - Believe the work of God
Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18; Jn 6:63,68; Jn 10:31-42
By Dc. Francis Mangeni
Message
All around us, is God’s goodness. Let’s recognise it in gratitude, and glorify God.
Gospel Reading
31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— 36 can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand[e] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41 Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.
The place where John Baptised is known as Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan. It is now a preserved UNESCO site, called Al-Maghtas, covering about 533.7 hectares. Pope Francis has called these sites the Fifth Gospel; they testify, to the life of Jesus on earth and corroborate what He did and said, to the Magnalia Dei, God’s mighty deeds in history.
The significance of the location of John’s baptism is that, that is the place where the people of Israel crossed into the promised land after years in the wilderness on the exodus from Egypt. John was therefore declaring a new and final exodus. Our Lord Jesus Christ leads this new and final Exodus; it is the Exodus out of sin, into eternal life, into heaven, into a reconciled new relation between God and all creation. The Gospel of John keeps reminding us of this geographical and theological location, as a retreat place for Jesus amidst the persecution from the Jews. This new Exodus is not just for the Jews, it is for all humankind; it is universal. The location of the place outside Jerusalem and the temple, its expansive size and openness to all, strengthen this message. The covenants God made with Abraham to be a blessing to all nations (Gen 12:3) and with David to have an everlasting kingdom (2 Sam 7:12-16), and the prophesies of God’s Law written in our hearts (Jer 31:33, Exz 36:26), are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all become children of God through baptism when they receive the Holy Spirit, and remain in Him (Jn 1:12, 3:3-6, 15:4).
In John 10, Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd (v.11). The Shepherd of Israel was God Himself (Gen 49:24; Ez 34:11-12; Ps 80:1, 95:7, 100:3). Jesus therefore is saying He is God who has been revealing Himself to Israel. He makes this absolutely clear when He says, “30 The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30), at which the Jews pick up stones to stone Him (v.31). They reject their Shepherd! This is much worse than the saying about biting the hand that feeds you. If we are not careful, we end up rejecting what is good for us, indeed what God has prepared for us; His goodness for us.
Our Lord performs good works, which are too many to record, except a few (Jn 20:31, 21:25). Jesus is Love (1 Jn 4:8). The Jews forget all these and never care about them (Acts 2:22-23). They would still have Him killed, and they attempt to do so several times, as they do again in the Gospel reading (Jn 10:31). The works testify to who Jesus is: He is God. But the Jews do not see this. Today, we call this actual atheism. It can also be the life of a Christian who has not conformed his or her life to our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore in effect ends up not having God in his or her life. And it can also be the life of anyone who does not see God revealed in all His creation: The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 8:1-4, 19:1). It is when we hardly take time to ponder every day in gratitude, and how God is in our daily life. At evening prayer, we can review the day, every day, seeing God in our life. We can take time to have days of recollection or retreats, to remember all the good people God has brought into our life since childhood, and how God has been in our experiences both the good and bad. And we can pray Psalm 23, rejoicing at how the Lord is our Shepherd.