THURSDAY IN THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT READINGS AND REFLECTION:
JESUS’ DIVINITY IS ENDORSED BY FOUR WITNESSES
(Jn 5:31–47).
THURSDAY IN THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT
MASS READINGS
1st Reading Ex 32:7–145
Responsorial Psalm Psalms 106:19-20, 21-22, 23
Verse Before the Gospel jN 3:16
Gospel John 5:31-47
READING I
Ex 32:7–15
The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I see how stiff-necked this people is. Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.”
But Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying, “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? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth’? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’” So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
God loved the world so much, he gave us his only Son, that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
GOSPEL
Jn 5:31–47
Jesus said to the Jews: “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.
“I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 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. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
GOSPEL REFLECTION
COMMENTARY FROM THE NAVARRE BIBLE, ST. JOHN (with permission)
- 31-40 Because Jesus is Son of God, his own word is self-sufficient, it needs no corroboration (cf. 8:18); but, as on other occasions, he accommodates himself to human customs and to the mental outlook of his hearers: he anticipates a possible objection from the Jews to the effect that it is not enough for a person to testify in his own cause (cf. Deut 19:15) and he explains that what he is saying is endorsed by four witnesses — John the Baptist, his own miracles, the Father, and the Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament.
- John the Baptist bore witness that Jesus was the Son of God (1:34). Although Jesus had no need to have recourse to any man’s testimony, nor even that of a great prophet, John’s testimony was given for the sake of the Jews, that they might recognize the Messiah. Jesus can also point to another testimony, better than that of the Baptist — the miracles he has worked, which are, for anyone who examines them honestly, unmistakable signs of his divine power, which comes from the Father; Jesus’ miracles, then, are a form of witness the Father hears concerning his Son, whom he has sent into the world. The Father manifests the divinity of Jesus on other occasions — at his Baptism (cf. 1:31-34); at the Transfiguration (cf. Mt 17:1-8), and later, in the presence of the whole crowd (cf. Jn 12:28-30).
- Jesus appeals to another divine testimony — that of the Sacred Scriptures.
- These speak of him, but the Jews fail to grasp the Scriptures’ true meaning, because they read them without letting themselves be enlightened by him whom God has sent and in whom all the prophecies are fulfilled:
- “The economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so orientated that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men, and of the messianic kingdom (cf. Lk 24:44; Jn 5:39; 1 Pet 1:10), and should indicate itby means of different types (cf. I Cor 10:11)… Christians should accept with veneration these writings which give expression to a lively sense of God, which are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way” (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, 15).
- These speak of him, but the Jews fail to grasp the Scriptures’ true meaning, because they read them without letting themselves be enlightened by him whom God has sent and in whom all the prophecies are fulfilled:
- 41-47 Jesus identifies three obstacles preventing his hearers from recognizing that he is the Messiah and Son of God — their lack of love of God, their striving after human glory and their prejudiced interpretation of sacred texts.
- His defence of his own actions and of his relationship with the Father might lead his adversaries to think that he was looking for human glory. But the testimonies he has adduced (the Baptist, the miracles, the Father and the Scriptures) show clearly that it is nor he who is seeking his glory, and that the Jews oppose him not out of love of God or in defence of God’s honour, but for unworthy reasons or because of their merely human outlook.
- The Old Testament, therefore, leads a person towards recognizing who Jesus Christ is (cf. Jn 1:45; 2:17, 22; 5:39, 46; 12:16, 41); yet the Jews remain unbelievers because their attitude is wrong: they have reduced the messianic promises in the sacred books to the level of mere nationalistic aspirations: this outlook, which is in no way supernatural, closes their soul to Jesus’ words and actions and prevents them from seeing that the ancient prophecies are coming true in him (cf. 2 Cor 3:14-16).
VIDEO REFLECTION:
TOPIC: DO YOU STILL HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT YOUR CATHOLIC FAITH?
In today’s first reading, Moses pleads with God to spare his people from punishment after they have turned to idolatry and reminds him of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the gospel reading, Jesus tells the Jews to believe in Him as they believed in Moses. The Jews wanted proof of Jesus’ claim that He is the long-awaited Messiah. They quote Deuteronomy 19:15 that requires three witnesses as evidence. Jesus presents four.
10 MINUTES WITH JESUS MEDITATION PODCAST
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