Saturday – 4th Week of Lent

Gospel – John 7:40-53

The “Awful” Truth

Caesarea Maritima

Remember when you were little, and someone told you something you just didn’t want to hear?  Maybe a best friend decided you were no longer friends!  Maybe your parents were handing out your punishment for breaking that glass or for ignoring countless ‘requests’ to clean your room.  Or maybe they couldn’t get you that one toy you hoped for as a birthday present.  That awful truth or that hard lesson that you just refused to listen to!  So, you covered your ears with your hands and mumbled some nonsense syllables to keep out those honest and truthful words.

It seems as if that is exactly what is happening in today’s Gospel.  The crowd of people get it!  Jesus is a Prophet, the Christ! Even the guards hear Jesus’ words and believe; as a result, they are reluctant to arrest him.  But the Pharisees?  Except for Nicodemus, they refuse to listen.  They argue over where Jesus is from.  They call the crowd “accursed” and dismiss their belief!  They reject Nicodemus as he tries to give Jesus a fair hearing.  In the end, the Pharisees retreat to their homes to hide away.  They hide away from the awful truth and stop up their ears to the truth of Jesus and His mission.  In some way, they hope that Jesus will just go away.

And what about us?  Are there times when we just don’t want to hear the awful truth?  Are there times when we don’t want to face our failings and missteps?  Are there times when we would rather hide inside of ourselves and shut the world out?  Shut the Word out?  What is our reaction to the Word of God?  Does it make us fearful or deaf or blind?  Or does it transform us, change our lives and our spirit?  Is the Truth really all that ‘awful’?

 

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