THE WORD IN LENT - 4th week, Saturday
March 28, 2020: Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 7: 40-53
Point for Dialogue #25: Our Goodness and the Goodness in the Other
"Then each went to his own house" - that is how the Gospel passage of today ends (v.53)! In spite of the witnesses who saw that there was something extraordinary in Jesus, in spite of the good that Jesus accomplished, in spite of the wonderful things that they saw, the pharisees took pride that they did not give into believing Jesus. This is the danger that we have to fight every day! We prefer to be in our safe homes, than get out and get to know what the Lord wants to reveal to us. This why Pope Francis keeps crying out for a Church that is in movement, a people of God who are constantly open to the revelations of the Lord in every day events and encounters.
The meaning of pride is not merely lack of humility, but it is lack of openness to truth! When one is open to Truth, one is ready to face struggles, persecutions and threats to stand by that truth, as Jeremiah tells us in the first reading. When one is stubbornly closed up against anything other than what he or she knows, one is locked up in "one's own house." We are called by the Word today to enter into a dialogue between our eagerness to be right and our earnest search of truth; between our belief that we are good and our capacity to see the good in the other.
The experience of Massah and Meribah where the people tested the Lord because of their stubbornness of heart, is what continued in Jesus' life as they refused to understand who Jesus was. In fact, it continues even today, when we are selective in our perceptions and choosy in our reflections. We take what is convenient for us and neglect what is not.
Truth does not matter to us as much as living without trouble. Truth does not matter to us as much as having everyone nod to our thinking and choice. When they don't agree, we tend to neglect them, sideline them, persecute them, hate them, or at least ignore them! Is this a Christian attitude? What do we prefer, to return to our own house, our own thinking, our own fixed judgements as soon as possible, or to truly look for the Truth in love?
Point for Dialogue #25: Our Goodness and the Goodness in the Other
The meaning of pride is not merely lack of humility, but it is lack of openness to truth! When one is open to Truth, one is ready to face struggles, persecutions and threats to stand by that truth, as Jeremiah tells us in the first reading. When one is stubbornly closed up against anything other than what he or she knows, one is locked up in "one's own house." We are called by the Word today to enter into a dialogue between our eagerness to be right and our earnest search of truth; between our belief that we are good and our capacity to see the good in the other.
The experience of Massah and Meribah where the people tested the Lord because of their stubbornness of heart, is what continued in Jesus' life as they refused to understand who Jesus was. In fact, it continues even today, when we are selective in our perceptions and choosy in our reflections. We take what is convenient for us and neglect what is not.
Truth does not matter to us as much as living without trouble. Truth does not matter to us as much as having everyone nod to our thinking and choice. When they don't agree, we tend to neglect them, sideline them, persecute them, hate them, or at least ignore them! Is this a Christian attitude? What do we prefer, to return to our own house, our own thinking, our own fixed judgements as soon as possible, or to truly look for the Truth in love?
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