Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Intention: For all who are standing up for justice, especially those who are persecuted for their courage, that God will continue to strengthen them and that their sacrifices may bear redeeming fruit.
Today’s Gospel | John 7:40-53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
A Lenten Reflection
In today’s highly interactive world, it has become increasingly necessary to be able to speak more than one language. This includes not only our literal languages but also our figurative ones. One of these is the language of power. Individuals, groups, institutions, and entire nations all have both direct and indirect ways of communicating what they have, what they want, and what they are prepared to do in the interest of both. And, in this last case, inevitably there will be people who prosper and people who will suffer. For this reason, the use of power ultimately becomes a moral issue, one that leads us to ask: what is the right use of power?
In John’s Gospel, we see Jesus’ opponents disdain for the thoughts and experiences of those who dare to disagree with them. In their lust for and abuse of power, they seek to deprive people of their freedom and dignity. Compare them to Nicodemus, who asks if they shouldn’t first be practicing patience and justice toward others. The essence of power is its ability to influence or change the world around us. In this regard, power can be used to exploit or power can be used to serve. The decision rests on our determination to treat others with the same openness and respect that we would wish for ourselves.
Author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote, “Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.” The season of Lent invites us to contemplate the ways in which we take responsibility for our own lives, especially in the use of our own power to affect others. Every day, we are in the position of being able either to lift or to crush people’s spirits, especially those of the most vulnerable among us. This is the power that each of us holds in our hearts, and we are called to its right use.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you sent your son to bring your eternal truth to our world. Many did not accept the truth, just as many do not today. In this holy time of Lent, we pray that might simply open our hearts to you and your wisdom. As we make our way through each day, use every moment to help us see things as you do. Reveal to us the strengths and faults of our own thinking and fill us with no other desire than to accept and do your will. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.