Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
There is an interesting interplay in today’s readings between our expectations or knowledge and God’s work.
In the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, we hear the emphasis on God as the one who knows all, “I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings” (Jer 11:18). All knowledge comes from God yet, like Jeremiah, we don’t always realize what God is telling us.
Today’s Psalm expresses a desire for God’s protection. God is the one who protects, He is also the one who empowers the just and ends the malice of the wicked (Ps 7:10).
These two readings really set us up for the Gospel today. Galilee, where Jesus grew up, was at the northern end of Palestine. It was considered by Jews to be a “backwater” area. They didn’t expect much from its inhabitants, who were assumed to be what we might call “hicks.” Some of the crowd and the Pharisees cannot see Jesus for who He really is – the Christ – because of their expectations about Galilee. They cannot see that God’s power extends beyond human expectation. Ironically, Nicodemus reappears here. In Nicodemus’s earlier conversation with Jesus (John 3), he is confused by Jesus’ message of eternal life and goes away without having come to understanding. It is Nicodemus, the one who could not understand Jesus at the beginning of the gospel, who chastises the Pharisees for condemning Jesus without a fair hearing. Of course, the Pharisees think him a “hick” too.
There is an important lesson here about the work of God exceeding our expectations. God’s actions do not always conform to our expectations. What are our expectations about where “good” and “bad” people come from? Who do we expect to come from West Dayton? Who do we expect to come from Oakwood? Who do we expect to come from New York? From Kentucky? From California? From Mexico? From India? From France? From Iraq?
When there’s a knock do we open the door or do we act like we’re not home? When there’s a migrant on the street, do we roll down the window or act like we can’t see through it? Do we acknowledge a person asking for help or do we act like we can’t hear?
For those that have eyes to see and ears to hear, the all-powerful Holy Spirit is working in all of these places, can we find Him? What’s our expectation? Chances are God will shatter those expectations.
– Tim Gabrielli