Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
April 12, 2011
To see the readings, click here:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/041211.shtml
My first reaction as I read the lesson from Numbers is that I sure am glad that God doesn't send snakes any more! I mean, we all have snakes in our environments, but I'm pretty sure God doesn't send them as a response to our disbelief any more. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.
Then we get to the reading from John. One thing I like about this reading is that it is one of the few where Jesus actually alludes to a difference between his human response to something and the response he shows because he is one with the Father. At least, that's how I interpret it when he says, “I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” I don't presume to know what it felt like to be in Jesus' unique situation, truly human and truly God, but it seems to me that this verse is a real insight into how it must have felt: on the one hand, reacting just like you or me, wanting to punish people who were hurting him and were not grasping the truth, wanting to lash out in a rage, but on the other hand, filled with the true love and compassion of the Father and wanting only to reach them.
When I read the two lessons together, I actually wonder if part of the reason we see a more compassionate representation of God in the New Testament might not be because he and Jesus were truly one, though separate, and that seeing our world through Jesus' eyes changed God. I don't think that's such a stretch -- even in the Old Testament we see times when Moses or Abraham or other leaders of the people wrestled with God on a specific subject and actually got him to change his mind. So is it such a stretch to believe that seeing us through the eyes of Jesus, even experiencing the anger and frustration that is part of being human, through Jesus, made a more profound change in God? Maybe the reason we see more examples of the God who lovingly reaches out to us and less examples of the God of wrath and punishment in the New Testament is that God developed insight into how humans are motivated. Throughout both testaments we consistently see a God who loves us and wants to be in communion with us, but who is hurt by our constant rejection and wandering. Maybe God has moved more in the direction of the carrot rather than the stick because, in his love of us, he came to realize it is more effective at drawing us to the path he wants us to follow.
Father, thank you for your relentless love of us. Thank you for leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and for giving them so many wise and good leaders to help them throughout history. Thank you for sending your Son to live among us and ultimately suffer and die for us. We can barely fathom how painful that must have been, and we know it is a sign of the depth of your love. Help us in this last leg of the Lenten journey to open ourselves to you fully. Open our hearts, Lord, and help us to see your face -- in all its manifestations. Amen
