DAILY GRACE

March 31, 2020, Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Scripture: John 8:21-30

Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”

They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Meditation

        “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

   Many came to believe. People were attracted to Jesus, not only in Galilee but also in Samaria, Perea, and Judea — in this case in the outer courts of the Jerusalem Temple. Some of them declared they had never heard anyone speak as this man did.

But what became of those believers? We don’t know the answer. I suspect that some were like the footpath and the rocky/ thorny ground where the seed of the Word was snatched away, parched, or choked. After all, those were times of turmoil.

Yet in these times of our COVID-19 turmoil I’d like to think that some of those listeners were “good soil.” I’d like to think also that we ourselves in this “downtime” of social distancing are also good soil. In any event, the evangelists tell us that there were people that day who believed in Jesus. By God’s grace these Jewish monotheists opened themselves to the amazing truth that in this controversial teacher there was something more than human  . . .  something divine.

Not far in the future, the ranks of the believers would grow, set on fire by the apostles’ courageous witness and bold proclamation. The faith of those believers would be confirmed by the silent witness of the empty tomb, and later by the dramatic witness of martyrs. From city to city, town to town, the news was to spread, until throughout the Roman Empire people of Jewish and Gentile origin would be joining together in prayer to Jesus “as to a god,” as Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor, would write in amazement.[i]  Such was the transformation that the Holy Spirit was to bring about in minds and hearts.

Prayer

  Lord Jesus, may I be good soil during this time of social distancing for the seed of your Word. May I ponder the Scriptures that tell about you and come to a deeper appreciation of your divine identity. The first Christians’ belief in your divinity must have been somewhat unclear, though firm. Instead, I enjoy the fruit of Christian thought developed for centuries under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Lord, deepen my wonder at the great mystery of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit —- one God, living and true. Amen.

Contemplation                     

   “[T]he one who sent me is true.”

[i] Letter to Trajan in English found at www.ccat.sas.upern.edu/jod/texts/[;omu/html.