Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
We live in a culture where messages are aimed at us from many directions. It is fascinating how if a message is said loudly and frequently enough in our culture, that its veracity is unquestioned. Consider the messages we have heard within our own families. Some families have raised their children with the truth that Catholics are not Christians. Others who have poor self-images have passed them onto their children unconsciously. In both of these examples what passes for truth is clearly not truth.
Jesus offers us a profound message in today’s gospel: “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31) What is the truth that we are offered? It is the truth for which countless martyrs have died. Jesus came and dwelt among us in order to show us how to live. Then he suffered and died on our behalf to atone for our sins; so that we would be set us free. Death and sin were not the end of the story. He was buried and on the third he rose again. Jesus’ death and resurrection is our Christian Passover.
The truth of Jesus, who is “our way,” is more profound than any other truth in all of history. The only problem is that for most believers this is largely an intellectual truth. A theologian from India once said, “the longest journey most Christians need to make is from their heads to their hearts.” The truth is that most of us do not let the gospel message affect our hearts in a way that changes our lives. If we hate someone, we are content to hate them and act out those feelings. If we are prejudiced against a particular race, gender or faith most of us are content to allow those beliefs to persist. We understand that we are entitled to our beliefs without question and that not even the Church has a right to call us to change.
By not being open to change, we are like those with whom Jesus spoke in today’s readings. In being closed to a transformative faith we make no room for the word in our hearts. Yet the Lord desires to enter even in the hardest of hearts. Think of firmness of the beliefs contrasted by King Nebuchadnezzar on one side and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego on the other. Both stood firm in their knowledge that they believed in the true God. Clearly only one could be correct. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego they put their lives on the line in order to show the firmness of their beliefs. How firm are we in our faith? Are we willing to die for it? Are we at least willing to treat each other with respect? Or are we, like Nebuchadnezzar, satisfied with worshiping the golden calves of our culture?
Good and Loving God, we are grateful for the sacrifice You made on our behalf. Continue to use this Lenten season to purify all that distracts us from Your love. So that with open hearts our lives will reflect You even when the odds are not in our favor. Amen!
-Michael Montgomery