5th Week of Lent
March
20, 2018
John
8: 21-31
I actually wrote out this
homily for our little daily Mass at DBCR but didn’t get to deliver it because
an accident on New Hampshire Ave. caused a traffic delay, and I couldn’t get to
school in time. So I post a current
homily, for a change, but one that wasn’t actually used.
I don’t know
about you, but I usually find John a lot more of a challenge to grasp than
Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
Jesus’
opponents among the Jewish leadership don’t grasp the story either. He tells the Pharisees he’s going away
(8:21), meaning that he’s going to the Father (13:1). They’ve refused to believe that he came from
the Father (8:18,26), speaks the Father’s message (8:26,28), does the Father’s
will (5:30; 8:29), leads all who are willing to the Father (14:4-6). So his opponents are doomed: “You will die in your sin” (8:21,24)—not
because God isn’t merciful but because they can’t see and don’t want to see who
Jesus is (9:41), can’t see and don’t want to see beyond “this world” that they
belong to (8:23).
When they
ask, “Who are you?” (8:25), they don’t do so honestly, seeking truth—any more
than Pilate will be interested in truth (18:38). That, of course, is a test for us: do we really care who Jesus is? Do we behold him “lifted up” (8:28) and
recognize the one who came from the Father and is now exalted with the Father
(cf. 12:28; 13:31-32; 17:1)? Will we try
to imitate him in doing only what we hear from the Father (8:26)? Will we let him lead us to the Father?
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