Waiting in expectation
LENT 2020 – Day 31
Wis 2: 1a. 12-22; Ps 33: 16-18, 19-20, 21.23; Jn 7: 1-2.10.25-30
How else was Jesus to convince the people of Israel that His was a divine message of salvation? A century earlier, King Solomon had foreseen that “a righteous man” would be dubbed “inconvenient”, put to the test and condemned to a shameful death.
The wise king had drawn from the Wisdom literature and the Book of Isaiah. Notice how accurate the preview he gives us of Christ’s life and Passion. What other proof does one require for our Lord’s divine origin?
When He realised that the Jews of Judea were seeking to kill Him, Jesus restricted himself to Galilee, in a sort of lockdown. Nothing, however, would prevent Him from calling a spade a spade when the need arose. When he went to the old, Mosaic feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, he preached openly, inviting the people to the Living Water. This was his mission on earth. None laid hands on Him; His hour had not yet come.
The hour is of the essence, though we know not when it will come. Hence we have to stay calm and be prepared, for “the Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.” There is no better way than the present global crisis that surrounds us to understand what it means to be “prepared”....
