DAILY GRACE
March 26, 2020, Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent
Scripture: John 5:31-47
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“. . . I say these things so that you may be saved.”
Over the past several days we have been in John’s Gospel, and at this point in John’s narrative Jesus is on trial. He has cured a sick man on the Sabbath, and has been accused of breaking the Sabbath rest. Appealing to his Father’s activity on the Sabbath (such as giving new life) and saying that he simply does the same, Jesus has aroused his accusers to further wrath: he calls God his Father. In addition, they seem to think that Jesus’ hint of equality with the Father means that he is setting himself up as God’s rival.
In yesterday’s Gospel passage, Jesus explains that he is God’s obedient Son, who does only what the Father wishes. (Therefore, he is not the Father’s rival.) In today’s passage, since the Law requires that someone being tried have witnesses, Jesus accepts that condition. He wants to give his accusers every opportunity to believe in him and be saved. As witnesses, he appeals not only to the invisible Father but also to John the Baptist and to the life-long miracles he himself has worked. Jesus also appeals to the Scriptures, declaring: “they testify on my behalf.” But, Jesus continues, his accusers resist the Scriptures and thereby refused to come to him to have life.
Having made his defense, Jesus takes the offensive and declares that one day his accusers will be on trial. Moses will accuse them before the Father, “because he wrote about me,” and “if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe what I say?”
In reading this line, I think of that passage in Deuteronomy [18:15ff], where Moses told the people that someday God would send them another prophet like himself, who would tell people everything that God wanted to make known. Christians have understood this to refer to Jesus.
We who have the grace of believing in Jesus accept God’s Word. But do we treasure and cherish it? Do we try to plumb its depths? This period of physical distancing because of COVID-19, like Lent itself, can be a time to do just that —- to grow in our love for the Word, which brings us still closer to the Lord.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, divine Master, your Word contains abiding truths to guide us on life’s way. Many passages of the Old Testament, while complete in themselves, contain a further dimension that refers to you. And the New Testament revolves around your life, teachings, death, and resurrection. May I read and heed your Word attentively, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. May I try to penetrate it always more profoundly, that it may bring me ever closer to you, the source of eternal life.
Contemplation
“. . . come to me to have life.”