Saturday of the Fourth Week
The confusion, speculation, and division among the people in today’s Gospel comes just after Jesus said “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink…as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’”
The people were divided. Was Jesus a prophet to be heard? The Messiah to be followed? A blasphemer to be seized? Guards who heard Jesus’ words directly declined to arrest him, despite the authorities and Pharisees not believing in Jesus.
Within the Gospel, Nicodemus offers a question relevant to our time and our faith – “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” Indeed, do we or our legal system judge or seize others simply based on their origin or their relation to authority figures? Or, as Nicodemus intimates, do we look deeper to hear their words and see their actions and then make informed decisions? The latter is a practical extension of Jesus’ directive to love our neighbors as ourselves.
In times of confusion, speculation, and division, let us turn to the source, hear and see for ourselves, and make just decisions. We must see to it that our legal system does the same, as Nicodemus’ question begs. In our own journeys of faith, let us go to the source for firsthand connection. Let us hear Jesus’ words and consider his actions. We believe they give us what we need in order to know and believe that Jesus is the Living Water.
Prayer
Jonathan ’87 & Marilyn Billings ’87, P’10
No comments:
Post a Comment