Friday

5th Week of Lent

1st Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah's fifth "confession”
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[10] For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
"Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my familiar friends,
watching for my fall.
"Perhaps he will be deceived,
then we can overcome him,
and take our revenge on him.”
[11] But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
[12] O Lord of hosts, who triest the righteous,
who seest the heart and the mind,
let me see thy vengeance upon them,
for to thee have I committed my cause.

[13] Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.

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Commentary:

20:7-18. This last, very dramatic "confession” is one of the most impressive
passages in prophetical literature. It (especially vv. 14-18) has features in
common with Job 3:1-10. It could have been uttered around 605-604 BC when
Jeremiah was being persecuted by King Jehoiakim. Despite all his efforts,
Jeremiah feels that he has failed; he believes in God – but could it be that he
never received a special call? It is a time of inner crisis for Jeremiah. He la-
ments his vocation, for it has led to his persecution (vv. 7-9); then he makes
an act of trust in God despite the harassment he is suffering (vv. 10-13); the
passage ends with a series of imprecations (vv. 14-18).

The prophet confides his feelings to God and complains about his calling (v.
7a). It looks as if God has misled him (v. 7b): the prophet has made enemies
on every side. When he proclaims the word of God no one listens: reproach
and derision are the only response he gets (v. 10). He would like to walk away.
Yet he cannot, for God is like a "burning fire” in his heart (v. 9). Despite all his
difficulties, his zeal for the Lord wins the day: it only goes to prove that those
who have experienced desire to make him known to others – to those who once
knew him and have forgotten him, and to those who have never heard of him.
That is the message that Theodoret of Cyrus takes from this passage, recalling
the example of St. Paul: "The same happened to St. Paul as he stood in silence
in Athens. His soul burned within him when he saw the terrible idolatry that was
practiced in that city (cf. Acts 17:16). The prophet had the same experience”
(Interpretatio in Jeremiam, 20, 9). And when Origen reads this passage and
asks himself whether God could ever deceive someone, he explains: "We are
little children, and we must be treated as little children. God, therefore, en-
trances us in order to form us, although we may not be aware of this captivation
before the appropriate time comes. God does not deal with us as people who
have already left childhood, who can no longer be led by sweet words but only
by deeds” (Homiliae in Jeremiam, 19, 15).

In spite of everything, Jeremiah is sure that God will never forsake him (v. 11).
From what he says, we can see that there is an inner tension between his 
experience of all kinds of sufferings (vv. 14-18) and the conviction that God will
never leave him (vv. 12-13). What he says in v. 18 could suggest that he is 
utterly depressed, but what he is doing is baring his soul to someone whom
he loves and trusts entirely, even in the midst of total darkness and a sense of
powerlessness. Events will show this to be the case: Jeremiah did not give up
his ministry but persevered in it to the end of his life. He admits his limitations
but he stays true to God: this bears out what the Lord will tell St. Paul when he 
feels the situation is beyond him: "My power is made perfect in your weakness”
(2 Cor 12:9).

Meditating on this "confession” of Jeremiah, St. John of the Cross concludes that
sometimes God's purposes are impossible to understand: "It is very difficult to
attempt to understand fully the words and deeds of God, or even to decide what
they may be, without falling often into error or becoming very confused. The
prophets who were entrusted with the word of God knew this well; their task of
prophesying to the people was a daunting one, for the people could not always
see what was spoken coming to pass. Therefore, they mocked and laughed at 
the prophets, as Jeremiah says: I have become a laughingstock all the day; 
every one mocks me (20:7). Although the prophet speaks as though resigned
to his fate, in the voice of a weak man who is unable to bear any longer the vi-
cissitudes of God, he makes clear the difference between the prophecy and its
fulfillment and the common sense that the divine sayings contain, because he 
knows that the prophets were often taken as mischief-makers” (Ascent of Mount
Carmel, 2, 20, 6).
　

Gospel Reading: John 10:31-42

Jesus and the Father Are One (Continuation)
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[31] The Jews took stones again to stone Him (Jesus). [32] Jesus answered
them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these
do you stone Me?" [33] The Jews answered Him, "We stone you for no good
work but for blasphemy; because You, being a man, make Yourself God."
[34] Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said you are gods'?
[35] If He called them gods to whom the word of God came (and Scripture cannot
be broken), [36] do you say of Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into
the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? [37] If
I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me; [38] but if I do
them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know
and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." [39] Again they
tried to arrest Him, but He escaped from their hands.

[40] He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first
baptized, and there He remained. [41] And many came to Him; and they said,
"John did no sign, but everything that John said about this Man was true." [42]
And many believed in Him there.

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Commentary:

31-33. The Jews realize that Jesus is saying that He is God, but they interpret
His words as blasphemy. He was called a blasphemer when He forgave the sins
of the paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8), and He will also be accused of blasphemy when
He is condemned after solemnly confessing His divinity before the Sanhedrin
(Matthew 26:63-65). Our Lord, then, did reveal that He was God; but His hearers
rejected this revelation of the mystery of the Incarnate God, refusing to examine
the proof Jesus offered them; consequently, they accuse Him, a man, of making
Himself God. Faith bases itself on reasonable evidence--miracles and prophecies
--for believing that Jesus is really man and really God, even though our limited
minds cannot work out how this can be so. Thus, our Lord, in order to affirm His
divinity once more, uses two arguments which His adversaries cannot refute--the
testimony of Sacred Scripture (prophecies) and that of His own works (miracles).

34-36. On a number of occasions the Gospel has shown our Lord replying to the
Jews' objections. Here He patiently uses a form of argument which they regards
as decisive--the authority of Sacred Scripture. He quotes Psalm 82 in which God
upbraids certain judges for acting unjustly despite His reminding them that "You
are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you" (Psalm 82:6). If this psalm calls the
sons of Israel gods and sons of God, with how much more reason should He be
called God who has been sanctified and sent by God? Christ's human nature,
on being assumed by the Word, is sanctified completely and comes to the world
to sanctify men. "The Fathers of the Church constantly proclaim that what was
not assumed by Christ was not healed. Now Christ took a complete human
nature just as it is found in us poor unfortunates, but one that was without sin,
for Christ said of Himself that He was the one 'whom the Father consecrated
and sent into the world'" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 3).

By using Sacred Scripture (cf. Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Luke 4:1, 17) Jesus teaches
us that Scripture comes from God. Therefore, the Church believes and affirms
that "those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sa-
cred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. Holy Mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles, holds that the
books of both the Old and New Testament in their entirety, with all their parts,
are sacred and canonical because, having been written under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20:31; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 3:15-16) they
have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church. [...]
Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers
must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scrip-
tures must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that
truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation"
(Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 11).

37-38. The works which our Lord is referring to are His miracles, through which
God's power is made manifest. Jesus presents His words and His works as for-
ming a unity, with the miracles confirming His words and His words explaining
the meaning of the miracles. Therefore, when He asserts that He is the Son of
God, this revelation is supported by the credentials of the miracles He works:
hence, if no one can deny the fact of the miracles, it is only right for Him to
accept the truth of the words.

41-42. The opposition offered by some people (cf. John 10:20, 31, 39) contrasts
with the way other people accept Him and follow Him to where He goes after this.
St. John the Baptist's preparatory work is still producing results: those who
accepted the Baptist's message now look for Christ and they believe when they
see the truth of what the Precursor said: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God
(John 1:34).

Work done in the Lord's name is never useless: "Therefore, My beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that
in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Just as the Baptist's
word and example had the effect of helping many people later to believe in Jesus,
the apostolic example given by Christians will never be in vain, even though the
results may not come immediately. "To sow. The sower went out...Scatter your
seed, apostolic soul. The wind of grace will bear it away if the furrow where it
falls is not worthy.... Sow, and be certain that the seed will take root and bear
fruit" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 794).
　

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

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