THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, Fifth week
March 22, 2024 - Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10: 31-42
Through the desert God leads us to freedom, and that way to freedom as we know, is not all roses. There are bound to be thorns, not just thorns but swords and guillotines! We see this candidly presented to us in the first reading through the experience of Jeremiah and in the Gospel with that of Jesus. Certainly, we have been witnesses to it through the history, how the just have been silenced and the righteous have been oppressed. What is our response to this experience of dying - do we dare?
The first level of this experience consists in facing the odds, all sorts of them. Powers against us, forces joining hands against us, even the so-called "our own" turning against us... facing all these and more odds, is clearly an experience of dying, dying to our comfort zones.
The second level requires standing firm, not losing ground in the face of the rising opposition. Only if we are convinced that we are standing by what is true and right, can we stand firm. If not, our lack of confidence itself will loosen the ground beneath us. Facing the odds does not mean just a few events to be warded off, or some particular crises to be faced in a context. It is facing a constant opposition and an ever rising opposition - against truth and agains righteousness. The world is fond of what works, what is useful and what is productive and in the bargain, what is foundational, what is right and what is just is sacrificed. Standing firm here is therefore dying, dying to our security and even our existence - just as it happens for Jeremiah and Jesus in the readings today!
The third level is, not just standing firm but, choosing to stand firm in the Lord. Yes, standing firm does not mean a confidence in my strength, my capacity, my skill and my influence! It is standing firm in the Lord, standing firm in the eternal things, standing firm on the promises of God; it is knowing that the Lord is my strength, my rock, my refuge, my fortress, my saviour. It is this capacity to abandon oneself in the hands of the Lord, that amounts to the experience of dying that will lead me to freedom, to glory, to what God has in store for me!
Letting God act on my behalf, through me and in me, is not an easy task. It is indeed an experience of dying. In doing this alone, can we grow up to say as Jesus did: the Father is in me and I am in the Father. This is daring to die, daring to die to myself and rise in God's glory!