The WORD in Other Words by Fr Carlos Macatanga SVD (Canada) for Friday 5th Week of Lent
BELIEVE! This word is mentioned four times in today’s gospel.
First, it refers to Jesus not only as one sent by the Father but also as the Son of God, manifested in his works. The Jews had difficulty accepting this reality; they picked up rocks to stone him. But Jesus was undaunted; he realized the difficulty some of them were going through so he asked them to consider his works that spoke for the source of his origin. Still, the people did not believe; their hearts were hardened by their inability to go beyond what they knew.
Second, ‘believe’ refers to John the Baptist. Many began to believe in Jesus not only because of his WORKS but also because of the John’s WORD.
It is said that to “to someone who believes, no explanation is necessary to someone who does not believe, no explanation is enough.” The Jews had chosen to close their hearts to the possibility of believing, thus Jesus’ WORDS and WORKS did not matter. They still wanted to arrest him.
On the other hand, the people who had heard of Jesus through John’s word, began to believe in Jesus. They opened their hearts because they saw how Jesus fulfilled what John had said about Him. For these people, nothing was ever impossible.
During this last week of Lent may we continue to prepare our hearts to believe in him who gave everything for us. May we continue to follow not only his WORDS but also his WORKS in what we say or do so that we may lead more people in believing in Jesus, the Son of God and sent by the Father to redeem us.
Source – The WORD in Other Words, Bible Dairy 2020
