Thursday of Week 4 of Lent – Gospel
Commentary on John 5:31-47
Today we continue on from yesterday’s words of Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders. In four ways, John’s Gospel reaffirms that God himself is the witness to the truth of all that Jesus says:
- The testimony of John the Baptist gives witness, although that was only human testimony (vv 33-34).
- The works of Jesus give clear testimony of the divine origin of all that Jesus does:
The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
The leaders could not see this, but the crowds often testified to it with enthusiasm (v36).
- The Father himself has given testimony, although that has not been seen directly by some of the Jews:
And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form…
Perhaps this is a reference to Jesus’ baptism or to the Transfiguration (vv 37-38).
- A careful reading of the Scriptures will show they give testimony to Jesus (vv 39-40).
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
This is clearly shown later on by Jesus when explaining the Scriptures to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
Although Jesus clearly comes in the name of his Father, he is not accepted or believed in. Yet some other individual will come in his own name, and they will accept him. Further, they keep looking to their own traditions, rather than looking further to someone who clearly comes from God.
Jesus will not accuse them before his Father. Moses, in whom they claim to believe, will be their accuser.
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?
By “Moses” is meant the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. Their authorship is attributed to Moses, although we know now by the dating of the various parts that this could not be possible. It was common in ancient times to attribute the authorship of a work to a well-known personality.
How much of all this applies to us? Where do we ultimately put our faith—in the Christ of the New Testament, or in a Jesus we have tailored to our own wants? How familiar are we with the Word of God in the New (and Old) Testament? Where do we clearly see the Risen Jesus bringing God into our lives every single day?
Read more
Thursday of Week 4 of Lent – First Reading
Commentary on Exodus 32:7-14
While Moses was up on the mountain conversing with God and receiving the law from him, the people below became impatient. “That Moses, the man who brought us here from Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron, the brother of Moses, then collected all the gold that the women and children wore and melted it down to make a ‘golden calf’.
The word ‘calf’ is somewhat derisive because it was in fact the statue of a bull, a common symbol of divinity in the ancient East. It seems that a group in competition with Moses’ followers (or perhaps a dissident faction within Moses’ group) wished to have the figure of a bull symbolise the presence of God. However, the God being worshipped was still Yahweh, who had brought them out of Egypt. The dissidents would also likely have viewed the Ark of the Covenant simply as a symbol of Yahweh, rather than recognize that the actual presence of God resided in it. So, they would have no problem substituting the familiar symbol of the golden bull for the Ark.
In paying worship to the bull, they saw the saviour who brought them out of slavery in Egypt. But they were worshipping a god of their own making—something people in all ages, including our own, tend to do.
God is portrayed as reacting very angrily to this and asks Moses, who is still in his presence, not to stand in his way:
Now let me alone so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them…
But Moses, while not denying their sin, pleads on behalf of his people. Later, he will plead on behalf of his sister, Miriam, and frequently on behalf of the people all during their journey through the desert. His intercession foreshadows that of Christ, who on the Cross won forgiveness for our sin.
Moses’ argument is that, if God destroys his people, he will become a laughing stock among the pagans for rescuing his people and then destroying them in the wilderness. In addition, Moses reminds God of the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the great and unending future of their descendants. So God, seen here in very human terms, relents and withdraws his promise of vengeance.
Of course, this is not at all the kind of God the New Testament asks us to believe in. We should be careful about speaking of our God in such anthropomorphic terms. God does not get angry; he does not take revenge. Our sinfulness brings its own punishment because every sin is a denial of what we are meant to be and become.
As with most passages of Scripture, what we need to look at here is not what is being said and done, but at the underlying meaning of the passage. The emphasis here is on the thanklessness of God’s people and on God’s readiness to forgive again and give them another chance.
We are constantly in the same situation. Let us be aware at this time of the countless gifts God has given us and continues to shower on us. At the same time, we know that, when we fail, his mercy and compassion are there for us always. But let that compassion draw us closer to him and to Jesus, and help us to leave behind every lack of love in our lives.
Read more