Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
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! Jeremiah 12:19-20
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from
Piety
Let us pray: God, with your omnipresent world-view, help us to place our full trust in you just as you have placed your full trust in our faith, hope and love. Make this mutual bond and covenant as strong as the bond you had with your Son when he was here on earth. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, build up our trust in you no matter what threatens us in this world. Help us to stand up defending you against the silence and making sure that everyone knows what you offer to us and what you ask of us. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030808.shtml
God’s unlimited perspective exceeds man’s limited vision and knowledge. Because the Pharisees were not there in
Whether or not we have all the facts in any situation, we can be as quick the rush to a judgment as were the Pharisees. Patience is a particular virtue, especially when the penalty under consideration might just be death. Nicodemus, appearing here for the second time in John’s Gospel, remains a patient truth-seeker. In John’s third chapter, Nicodemus stole away under the cloak of darkness, to meet with Jesus in what seemed like a clandestine encounter worthy of a Tom Clancy or Ian Fleming spy novel.
What Nicodemus intended to do was get to the bottom of the excitement that the crowds had been experiencing with their encounters with this itinerant preacher. What happened was the exact opposite. Jesus, instead, peppered Nicodemus with questions in order to get to the bottom of why the Pharisee was here. In the end, that religious education lesson included the essence of why Jesus was here on earth – John 3:16.
At the time, due to our limited perspective, we did not know the importance or the outcome of that encounter. But now, after another four chapters have passed, we learned that the lessons of that lonely dark night have remained with Nicodemus. And while his colleagues start moving to plot the downfall of Jesus, Nicodemus tries to remind them of the laws that they must follow under Jewish tradition.
John is slowly revealing to us that Nicodemus knows the truth and the truth is setting him free from the prejudice and plot of the Pharisees. However, the Pharisees want to hear nothing of Nicodemus’ plea for patience and quest for the truth. To avoid those obligations, they ultimately turn over the Lord to Pilate, condemning him under Roman law rather than Jewish law.
Nicodemus knows otherwise. When we encounter him for the third and final time, he is at the foot of the cross, helping Joseph of Aramithea bury the dead body of Jesus and helping to keep alive the message and Spirit that Jesus left behind, imprinted on his very soul.
Humanity thinks that if Jesus is killed, that this murder will silence his message. Not only are they mistaken, they have no idea how big an error they are committing. From the oral history of the day, on to books, letters, courses, radio programs, television shows, films, internet sites and pages upon pages have been written. In the popular poem/essay/sermon about Jesus, “One Solitary Life,” by James Allen Francis, we succinctly hear how wrong these plotters were in Jeremiah.
He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.
Action
Just as the encounter with Jesus lived on in the heart of Nicodemus, so too do his words and works live on for us and with us. We now must take his Body and Precious Blood and become that body and blood. Just like Nicodemus became Jesus’ advocate, we must carry on that spirit becoming his arms and legs – indeed his very voice – bringing His word and love into the world.
We are now entrusted to God – entrusted to make sure that the Lord’s vengeance is carried out. That vengeance is not violence. That vengeance is noise that we will create to take the place of the deafening silence that our culture has for the values of Sermon on the Mount. If we allow silence to win, then we are allowing those who killed Jesus to win. It remains up to us to continue to make sure that His voice is never silenced. It remains up to us to forever be witnesses to testify to His birth and carry on his spirit and truth.
Where will you speak up for Jesus today? He has entrusted you with being his advocate just as he is your Advocate before God.
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