Apr
06
2019
By Anonymous (not verified)
The Marian Fathers present this Lenten devotional series to help you prepare to receive graces on Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday.
Readings: Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3, 9BC-10, 11-12; Jn 7:40-53
Diary: 228, 615, 1502
"Have you also been deceived?" - Jn 7:47
In today's Gospel, there's much conjecture and division about the identity of Jesus. Even the religious leaders and their guards disagree. The chief priests and Pharisees ask the guards why they failed to arrest Jesus. They answer, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man" (Jn 7:46). The guards, it appears, have a higher regard for Jesus than for these leaders.
How do the chief priests and Pharisees try to win them over? With flattery! "Have you also been deceived?" they ask (Jn 7:47). They say that if the guards follow Christ, they will be joining the uneducated and "accursed" crowd. Certainly, they'd rather be of the same mindset as the many Pharisees who don't believe in Jesus.
These leaders are figuratively offering the guards a seat at the "cool table" - the high school seating arrangement where the most popular students cluster. Too bad the guards didn't have a chance to hear the wise and just Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, address these Pharisees earlier. "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" (Jn 7:51). Hearing Nicodemus - a Pharisee himself - could've made it easier for the guards to decide which table was cooler.
Prayer: Dear Lord, open my heart to what the learned couldn't see. Help my Lenten meditations to be fruitful.
Missed a day? See previous "From Ashes to Mercy" daily meditations.
Readings: Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3, 9BC-10, 11-12; Jn 7:40-53
Diary: 228, 615, 1502
"Have you also been deceived?" - Jn 7:47
In today's Gospel, there's much conjecture and division about the identity of Jesus. Even the religious leaders and their guards disagree. The chief priests and Pharisees ask the guards why they failed to arrest Jesus. They answer, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man" (Jn 7:46). The guards, it appears, have a higher regard for Jesus than for these leaders.
How do the chief priests and Pharisees try to win them over? With flattery! "Have you also been deceived?" they ask (Jn 7:47). They say that if the guards follow Christ, they will be joining the uneducated and "accursed" crowd. Certainly, they'd rather be of the same mindset as the many Pharisees who don't believe in Jesus.
These leaders are figuratively offering the guards a seat at the "cool table" - the high school seating arrangement where the most popular students cluster. Too bad the guards didn't have a chance to hear the wise and just Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, address these Pharisees earlier. "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" (Jn 7:51). Hearing Nicodemus - a Pharisee himself - could've made it easier for the guards to decide which table was cooler.
Prayer: Dear Lord, open my heart to what the learned couldn't see. Help my Lenten meditations to be fruitful.
Missed a day? See previous "From Ashes to Mercy" daily meditations.
ddburg
