Let Us Beset the Just One

Let Us Beset the Just One

March 15, 2013

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

By Melanie Rigney

The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.” (Wisdom 2:1, 12-15)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. (Psalms 34:19)

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”(John 7:25-27)

Piety

Lord, help me to set aside my biases against people for our past interactions, and to love them today as you love them—and me.

Study

We’ve likely all had a few uncomfortable social media or real-life moments related to encounters with our pasts. Should you accept a friend request from John, whom you had the biggest crush on in fourth grade and who remembers those ugly cat-eye glasses you had? How about Jane, who was in cahoots with you on a bit of college mischief you’ve regretted ever since? Then there’s Joe, the son of a doctor and lawyer who went Ivy League while you took a course or two at the vocational school. These people all knew a different you, a less seasoned, less mature person than you are today.

Of course, that works the other way too: Maybe John’s had more sorrow in his life than he shares on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe Jane feels as bad about those bad deeds from decades ago, and has discovered a more Christ-like sense of right and wrong. Maybe Joe appreciates all the breaks he’s had, and works to help those who haven’t been as fortunate.

Or perhaps all of you are exactly the same as you were all those years ago, unchanged by a deepening relationship with Christ or the buffets and joys that life has brought you.

Not likely, right?

There’s a certain comfort in knowing that even back in Jesus’s time, it mattered to some where you came from or who your parents were or what school you attended. But that knowledge also brings a responsibility—to learn from the foolishness and arrogance of people who discounted a simple carpenter’s son from Nazareth and to delight in our brothers and sisters as they are today, rather than judging them on their pasts.

Action

The 136^th Arlington Women’s Cursillo is under way at Missionhurst in Arlington. Contemplate on how you have changed—spiritually, emotionally, and mentally—since your Weekend. Pray that the Holy Spirit may also guide and change the babe chicks in their Fourth Day.