LENTEN REFLECTION

Message

Our  Lord  Jesus Christ is truly  God, One  Lord.  He  is The Word  (with  a  capital  W ),  the organising principle of the  universe and all life, who gives life to everything. Verbalised, His words are  efficacious, transformative, and performative; they make things happen. At creation and in various miracles, the words spoken give effect. When we hear the word of God, and receive Jesus in our  hearts, we get  transformed and receive eternal life.

Gospel Reading

John   8  51 Very   truly,  I  tell  you, whoever  keeps  my  word will  never see death.” 52 The  Jews said to  him, “Now we  know that you   have a  demon. Abraham died, and so did the  prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 53 Are you  greater than our  father Abraham, who died? The  prophets also died. Who  do  you  claim to  be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If  I glorify myself, my  glory is nothing. It is my  Father who glorifies me, he  of whom you  say, ‘He is our  God,’ 55 though you  do  not  know him. But  I know him;  if I would say that I do  not  know him, I would be  a liar like you. But I do know him  and I  keep his  word. 56 Your  ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day;  he saw it and was glad.” 57 Then the  Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Very  truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So  they picked up stones to throw at him, but  Jesus hid himself and went out  of the  temple.

The traditional understanding of Scripture or the word of God, is that it is daily bread for  nourishment, water for  life,  and the  principles of  life; “3  He  humbled you  by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with  manna, with which neither you  nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you  understand that one does not  live by bread alone, but  by every word that comes from the  mouth of the  Lord:  (Dt 8:3). Our  Lord Jesus Christ is the  bread of life, the water of life, and He gives us the  Holy Spirit who lives in us  (Jn  6:35,  7:37,  14:26;  1 Cor  6:19). When we receive our Lord Jesus Christ, we have eternal life; we do not  die, we are  united to Him.

Jesus, who is the Word of God, gives us life. He is the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25-27) and the  way, the  truth and the  life (Jn 14:6). As He says to Martha, “I am the  resurrection and the  life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me  will never die” (Jn 11:25-26). He then asks Martha, “Do you  believe this?” He asks each one of us this question today. Martha’s response was “27  Yes,  Lord,  I believe that you  are  the  Messiah, the  Son of God, the  one coming into  the world” (Jn 11:27). What is your response?

The  polemics or  tough exchange in  John 8 culminate in  Jesus’s declaration that “Very  truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am” (v.58).  He makes clear that He is pre-existent. And by using I AM, Jesus makes clear that He is God, the very  one who revealed His name to  Moses in the  burning bush in Ex 3:14,  and whom the  Jews worshipped as YHWH. On our  part, we believe in the One Triune God: God  the  Father, the  Son, and the  Holy Spirit; our  creator, saviour and giver of life who sanctifies us.

It should then be  something of a shock that the  chief  priests, pharisees, and other Jews who rejected Jesus  ridiculed and treated  Jesus  so   badly, with   the  worst possible insults: they said He was a Samaritan, and had a demon (Jn 8:48,  52). As disciples of Jesus, we  can  expect no  better from the  systems and establishment of this  world, from those who rule   on  this earth. Our  lot  will  be  ridicule, insults, persecution, and rejection. Indeed, we serve under the  flag of our  Lord Jesus Christ, our  King, whose path is readiness for  poverty, insults, and humility, living  in total fidelity to God, which gives us  total freedom and makes us Christ-like; rather than an  enslaving pursuit of wealth, honour, power, and pride which the  devil unsuccessfully tempted  our   Lord  with   in  the   wilderness  (Mt  4:1-11),   but   had successfully tempted Eve and Adam with  in the  garden (Gen  3:1-7).

The  existential lesson from these temptation passages is that we  should conform our  human nature to God, in total fidelity, who is the  source of all Good, who is the Good, and who created us  for happiness with  Him. When we  rebel, we  act  contrary to our  nature and end up in misery. Jesus gives us freedom; He is the Truth and the Light;  He sets us free  (Jn 8:12, 31-32).

To the  systems, establishment and rulers of this earth, who  reject  Jesus, He has an appropriate scorcher, telling them their father is the  devil, who is a murderer, for they lie and murder:

42 If God were your Father, you would love  me, for I came from God  and now I am  here. I did  not  come on  my  own, but  he  sent me. 43 Why  do you  not understand what I say? It is because you  cannot accept my word. 44 You are from your father the  devil, and you  choose to  do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the  beginning and does not stand in the  truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the  father of lies. 45 But because I tell the  truth, you do not believe me. (Jn 8:42-45)