Friday, March 27, 2015

Misunderstood and Maligned? No problem.


In a world dominated by linear thinking and an eye to efficiency Jesus presents a bracing counter-intuitive witness.  Think about today's gospel for a moment.  If Jesus' sole purpose in preaching was to gain adherents it would seem that he has failed.  For his efforts, by the end of his discourse the crowd is ready to stone him to death.  He says those provocative words - “Before Abraham was, I AM.”  This statement, to the average Jewish ear, crossed the line into blasphemy.  It is a phrase that will be used against him in the trial that condemns him to the cross.  But the underlying question for me is – why would Jesus preach this way knowing, as he must certainly have known, that people would be slow to understand?  Why preach this way when some misunderstand him while, at the same time, others, fully understanding his words, reject him outright?  Why not use his divine powers to say just the right words in just the right way?  Yet he doesn't do this.  Instead, he seems to be content to preach and then let the seed fall where it may…on good soil, on bad soil, on soil seemingly unprepared for his words. 

As we continue our journey toward the Easter sacraments let us ask ourselves: am I prepared to share the things of God even when I don't have the perfect words?  Am I willing to risk the rejection and misunderstanding that marked Jesus' own life?

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