Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A walk on Douglass Ave
Louisville, KY

“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,

whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with such great power and with so strong a hand?

Apocalyptic literature expects a day of judgment. Before that day comes, the forces of good and evil must separate into two camps. Lines are drawn, decisions are made and differences become irreconcilable. All of the gospels, but most especially John’s gospel, describe that approaching crisis as Jesus approaches Jerusalem. During the coming weeks the liturgy leads us into that tension, and demands that each person choose Jesus once again.

In today’s gospel we hear Jesus making this demand of his opponents: “I say this to you so that you may be saved.” He presents his impeccable credentials to them -- the testimony of John the Baptist, the Scriptures, and the Father’s works he has accomplished -- but they do not accept them.  Finally, he points to their failure to obey God: I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.

Nice people hate confrontation and shun controversy. They never discuss politics or religion, not even in political and religious forums. And yet life is saturated with conflict and continually demands that we make choices. The history of Christian doctrine and ethics is a long story of controversy. Sometimes, like making sausage and enacting laws, it gets ugly.

Rarely are the lines drawn on the fundamental statements like the Trinity or the Incarnation. John the Baptist condemned Herod Antipas for marrying his brother’s widow and was decapitated for his trouble. Saint Thomas Moore was executed because he would not recognize the King’s marriage. Thomas Becket was murdered for defending the property of the church. Joan of Arc led a French army against the British, was betrayed by her own people. She was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Today’s martyrs often die because they feed the poor, as two Polish Franciscans died in Peru in 1991. 

Nobody cares what we say about Jesus but the world scrutinizes the stand we take on social and political issues. In the United States lines are drawn on issues of abortion, homosexuality, health care for the poor and responsibility for the environment – to name a few.

The crisis inevitably forces people to take a stand. Families are divided and neighbors feud. No one is permitted to stay on the sidelines meditating in sweetness and light. Even when one sees merit in both camps and would mediate between them, her posture is challenged. They cannot abide her tolerance and compassion.

Approaching Holy Week we meditate on the crisis that Jesus forced upon his opponents. He backed them into a corner as he advanced upon Jerusalem. In the end they had no choice but to worship him or kill him. The holy season demands that we walk with Jesus into that crisis. If we survive the moment we will be better prepared to speak the truth gently and assuredly in the face of controversy. And perhaps this time, they’ll listen.