Tuesday 23 March

Today is Tuesday the 23 March, in the 5th week of Lent.

Salt of the Sound sings, ‘Your Ways’.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John.

John 8:21-30

Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ Then the Jews said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

In John's Gospel, Jesus is presented as someone frequently misunderstood. The Jews here don’t understand him at all. Why do you think that they find it so difficult to grasp what he is trying to say?

Jesus suggests that they will understand better when he is “lifted up”. This points to the crucifixion, an event we will soon be recalling in liturgy. The Jews ask here “Who are you?” What does the image of Jesus on the cross tell you about who he is?

Even amidst the misunderstandings, we’re told that many believed in Jesus. What was it that they saw in him, do you think, that their friends and neighbours missed?

As you listen again, notice how Jesus relates to God his Father here.

You might end this prayer by asking Jesus to help you to understand him better, or bringing to him any aspect of his life and teaching that you find hard to grasp.

You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.