Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Yesterday began our fifth and penultimate week of Lent. As we continue along our journey this week, our eyes are focused ever more intently on Jesus and his journey to Jerusalem, to his passion and crucifixion. Our first reading today comes from the book of Daniel and contains a story that is at once tragic, dramatic, and joyful. Susanna, a holy and beautiful woman, is unjustly accused by elders who have lusted after her. She is on the verge of being put to death unfairly when a young boy named Daniel steps in and comes to her defense by challenging the elders.
Daniel’s defense hinges on testimony. Although these men were well-respected elders, their testimony could be verified or found invalid by separating them and interviewing them. The men had not worked out in detail their false account, and so they gave different evidence as to the tree under which Susanna and her illicit lover were supposedly found. The discrepancy in this
one detail was enough to convince the crowds that the elders had lied and that Susanna was innocent.
Indeed, even in our modern justice system, testimony is powerful. In court hearings today witnesses are called in and experts are called in to give testimony that can either convict someone or set him free. We do not expect a defendant to be able to convince us merely on her own testimony, just as Susanna’s testimony was not enough to defend her in the face of two men.
And this is why Jesus’ words in today’s gospel reading would have been so controversial. In response to the Pharisees, Jesus argued that he could testify and was testifying on his own behalf. To the Pharisees, Jesus’ testimony could be nothing but invalid because there was no verification of it. This was because the Pharisees had missed the point. Jesus is God’s self-revelation, the image of the invisible God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father (from the Nicene Creed). The Pharisees could not see how this was possible, and they could not recognize Jesus as God, despite the many signs.
The Pharisees failed to recognize that Jesus himself was the testimony to God’s love. They wanted argument and defense, not a miracle-worker and teacher that would allow himself to be led to death. In these last weeks of Lent, we must not let our gaze leave the person of Jesus, the ultimate testimony of God’s love and grace. For though we have made sacrifices this Lent and done penance for our sins, in the end it is this man Jesus who saves us. It is by his grace, by God’s love, that the resurrection triumphs over the crucifixion so that death no more can reign.
Today, take some time to reflect on the powerful testimony that is Christ Jesus. Let us try to refocus our Lenten practices that they may be more Christocentric. May the thoughts of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection transform all that we say, think, and do in these final days of Lent!
- Maria Morrow