Lenten Moments of Mercy: Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent   We read Scripture to discover the Christ who lives among us.

Scripture “They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’” John 7:52   Reflection In the Gospel reading today from the Gospel of John, the question of Jesus’ identity continues to be a matter of dispute (John 7:40‒53). Some are wondering if Jesus is the Messiah. Others argue that he could not be the Messiah as there is nothing in the scriptural record that says that the Messiah would be from Galilee. The religious authorities were anxious to get Jesus arrested. The witness of his teaching and his healing of others did not impress them. The authorities were locked into a literal reading of their Scriptures and could not see who was standing before them. In every generation there is the temptation to read Scripture in an overly literal way and to judge others from an interpretation imposed on the text. It is easy to use Scripture as proof text, that is, to choose only those verses which are amenable to our own views. To support their views, some also teach that the text itself is infallible in its authority and is not to be questioned. Like the religious authorities in Jesus’ time they are so locked into the text, they cannot see the person. The Catholic Church is explicit in its understanding of the relationship of the written word of the Bible and belief in the person of Jesus. As stated in theCatechism of the Catholic Church #108:   [T]he Christian faith is not a religion of the book. The Christian faith is a religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is “not a written and mute word, but the Word that is incarnate and living.” If the Scriptures are not to be a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, “open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.” The authorities in Jesus’ time could not identify who he was because they were locked in their texts with closed minds. This led to increased hostility towards Jesus which led to his arrest, Passion, and Crucifixion. In our day we are called to read the Scriptures in a spirit of humility so we can discover in them how we are being called to increase our ability to discover the living presence of Jesus in all whom we meet.

Pope Francis “The Word of God therefore precedes and exceeds the Bible. This is why our faith is not only centered on a book but on a history of salvation and above all on a Person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh.” Address to the Members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 12 April 2013   Lenten Action ► Review the USCCB article “The Senses of Scripture.” ► Read “10 Ways to Make the Bible a Part of Your Everyday Life,” by Joe Paprocki. ► Go back and reflect on something that particularly touched you this fourth week of Lent. Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday   Prayer Lord, let us be numbered among those who do not judge people without first giving them a hearing.

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