John 8: 51-59
Jesus said to the Jews:
“Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
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.
Recognizing Jesus
Do we truly know Jesus? What about God? Or do we only know who we think they are? How often do we get challenged or upset by something we hear or read, and we say, “That's not the God I know”? Or as the Pharisees say to Jesus in today’s Gospel, that person must be crazy or has a demon possessing him. How often do we jump to throwing stones at something we don't like, or maybe something that makes us uncomfortable, or is different from what we're used to? Is there a place that God might be challenging you, inviting you somewhere new as we approach the end of this Lent? We have the grace of perspective that the Pharisees do not and can see what they are missing. But I wonder, if you were in this story, would you recognize Jesus? Might there be something God is inviting you to see differently?
—Austin Kleman, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province working as a therapist at Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
Love consists in sharing
what one has
and what one is
with those one loves.
Love ought to show itself in deeds
more than in words.
—St. Ignatius of Loyola