April 12, 2019

Jn 10: 31-42

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.”

Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ —and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

The waters that nourish us

Jesus returns to the Jordan. Muddy, narrow, shallow, it is a humble sort of river. Yet its flowing waters are a source of life for an otherwise arid region. They are also grace-filled, the baptismal waters of Jesus.

The evangelist John wastes no words. His writings flow with richness, like the waters of the Jordan, compact but layered, and life giving. Wade in them and believe. Like Jesus, find nourishment in the waters of the Jordan. Wade with Christ. As they did for him, let the peaceful waters quench the aridity we face. Let them nourish us in this final leg of our Lenten journey as we follow him to Jerusalem and witness the egregious injustice of his passion and death.

—Stephen Hutchison founded and leads Revitalization 2000, Inc., a nonprofit organization that emerged from St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church to assist its Ignatian-based mission to serve the poor in the surrounding neighborhood of north St. Louis.

Prayer 

Jesus, what a gift are these stories of You
not so long ago divinely walking this earth
teaching, healing, caring, loving
but too humanly fearing
feeling abandoned needing to return to the waters
where Your Father acclaimed You
as beloved
and therein finding the strength
to accept His will.
Christ, amidst my own vulnerability
may my awareness of Your love
likewise be enough
that I too surrender all.

—Stephen Hutchison