Celebración de la palabra

Saturday April 6, 2019

Fourth Week of Lent

Introduction

It is hard for a person who “has been seduced by God,” as Jeremiah says, to be rejected by the very community to which one has dedicated one’s life and before which one bears witness to the spiritual. He is a source of division. So was Jesus. Are we willing to take the risks of being Christian, of being signs of contradiction with Christ? If we can, it will surely hurt. We will be contradicted and ridiculed. Can we accept this with equanimity? It has become our responsibility when we were baptized.

Opening Prayer

Almighty God,
when people encountered your Son,
he became a source of division:
he affected their lives
one way or another.
May we accept him fully
and empty ourselves to make room for him
in our everyday life, even when it hurts.
Help us, that with him
we may always seek and do your will.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Reading: Jer 11:18-20

I knew their plot because the LORD informed me;
at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.

Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,
had not realized that they were hatching plots against me:
"Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will be spoken no more."

But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,
searcher of mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause!

Responsorial Psalm 7:2-3, 9BC-10, 11-12

R. (2a) O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
Lest I become like the lion's prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,
and because of the innocence that is mine.
Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

Verse before the Gospel: Lk 8:15

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.

Gospel: Jn 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.

Intercessions

– That we may accept with serenity when we are contradicted or ridiculed because of our faith, we pray:
– That all those who suffer may put themselves into the hands of God, we pray:
– That Christians may always take sides in favor of what is right and good, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God, our Father,
your Son came among us
to live before our eyes
the life of a loving Son
and a faithful servant.
He is now here in our midst.
Like him, Lord,
may we not seek popularity
or peace at any cost.
So we ask you to give us the courage
to go against the current of opinion
when faithfulness to you so demands.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

God, to be faithful to you
and honest with ourselves
is not always comfortable.
Neither was it for your Son Jesus.
We pray you today:
May hardships and misunderstanding
not fill us with bitterness,
but may they be useful in a small way
to bring life and hope
to us and to our neighbor,
as we are united with Jesus,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

Blessing

If we are contested because of our faith and its implications, may God give us the insight and strength not to be afraid but to bear witness to the Lord and to what is right and good. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Commentary

Jeremiah came to realize that the plot being hatched by his opponents was directed against him. Once again we are reminded of how much the biblical defenders of the truth had to suffer. Here the prophet realizes that only God can deliver him from their hands.
The Gospel today finds Jesus’ opponents turning in any direction to help their cause. Since Jesus was from Galilee in the north and not from Bethlehem in the south, he cannot be the messiah; the messiah was to come from Bethlehem, the city of David. Their position indicates how a little scripture can be a dangerous thing. The messiah was to be a descendant of David, whose home city Bethlehem is often portrayed as a place of divine privilege. The New Testament does indicate that the birth of Jesus took place in Bethlehem, but, even if it had not, his Davidic origins would have remained intact. Geography was not the central issue.
Jesus spent most of his life in Galilee but that did not contradict his Judahite origins.
There is considerable discussion in our time about scientific positions that are seen to be at odds with the Bible. Evolution versus creationism. Was it seven days or seven million years? Regrettably, it is a question of apples and oranges. The biblical authors had no idea of the age of the universe, nor was there any reason why they should. In the Bible, God is presented as working like a human artisan in a popular description of the world’s origins. The scientific questions are best left to science, and religious questions TO the Bible. Both have a very different scope. The ancient maxim said it well. “The Bible tells us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.”

Points to Ponder

The meaning of the Davidic messiah
The dangers of biblical fundamentalism
Religion and science.