Sunday, April 6, 2014

Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent, Cycle A - April 5, 2014

Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent
April 5, 2014        8:30am

 

What I see in today’s gospel is an issue, in fact a problem of control.

Some of the religious leaders had developed certain expectations and understandings of what the Messiah would be like.
Over time, they became very closed to anything new – any additional or new understanding of who God is or how God would act on their behalf.
And, by the way, it so happened that their religious expectations and understandings were very self-affirming and made them very comfortable.
They would not let in anything that challenged them to change or grow in the least.
So, they boxed God into a nice, neat, controlled package.
And in truth, they boxed themselves in and cut themselves off from so very much about God.
And all of this led them to reject Jesus, to be closed to anything new or challenging or unsettling.

That kind of control or effort at control always remains a human possibility.
We can slide into this rather easily.
It is an especially cunning temptation.
Why? 
Because we might think that in being closed off we are actually being strong and holding on to what we think is right or true.
This approach can lead us probably not to reject Jesus directly as the people in today’s gospel are doing, but it can lead us to reject or look down upon others who may in some way be challenging to us.

The solution, it seems to me, is to stay glued to Jesus, to see our relationship with him as paramount, and to see him and our relationship as always alive and growing and expanding.
But, of course, to do that, we have to let go of control.