Jer. 20: 10-13; Jn. 10:31-42
Jerimiah serves as a reminder of the world we live in and our human condition. Two expressions come to mind to represent this. One is “Its’ a jungle out there.” The “whispering” we call “chisme” or gossip that often tears down instead of lifting up souls. The second is more dangerous. I often remind individuals when you go to a new place be it a job, community, or organization you have your friends and enemies waiting for you. We connect and we clash and sometimes both with the same people. God however is faithful.
The reading speaks of “friends” ready to “denounce” our actions who turn against us. It also serves as a reminder of our hearts that seek “to witness vengeance” of God on our enemies. Jesus the visible sign of God’s mercy comes to rescue the poor. He rescues the “poor” in their distress from captivity. God sends Moses to rescue the people of God from their slavery. As we approach the end of Lent, have we been set free from the captivity the world has bound us in and the slavery of our sins?
Today we pick up where yesterday’s gospel ended, with Jews wanting to stone Jesus. Who were these Jews? They were Pharisees and Sadducees who governed the people of God with fear and kept them captive with religious power. What made Jesus a threat calling him possessed? He called himself “I Am”, the name of God given to Moses. They see him as attempting to overthrow their power. They claim “you are making yourself God” a blasphemer for the Jews. Jesus response is very important for us. He reminds them that scripture says, “You are gods” and they cannot put this aside and ignore it. We cannot set scripture aside and ignore our godhead. Where does it come from? Jesus went back to the Jordan, the waters of baptism where our godhead comes from. From this we are consecrated “gods’ of the Father as his sons and daughters.
Easter is a celebration of our godhead in Christ coming from our baptism. It is also the call to live our consecrated lives for our God the Father. Today the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ opens in theatres. Jim Caviezel who played the role of Christ in the Passion of Christ plays the role of Luke in this movie. In an interview on ETWN with Raymond Arroyo he recalls in the Passion asking Christ to experience Him more and Christ asked him if he was sure, he said “yes”. In the movie he is hit by lightening, he gets a separated shoulder, becomes sick during the filming on the cross and afterwards suffered a heart attack. His experience then and now is to be Christ to others. He has chosen the path of godhead.
“Godhead” is used by Paul three times in scripture (Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, Col. 2:9) in reference to the divine nature of Jesus. Our godhood of being divine as children of God comes by our baptism. Jesus professed his “Godhead” of God as perceived by his works today. He calls us to believe and live our godhead by our works consecrated to God. What good is it to be called Priest, prophet, king, mother, father, boss apart from the Godhead of Jesus? Paul lets us know in Col. 2:9 all the fullness of the godhead dwells in Christ and we are called to dwell in him. Just as in Christ we cannot separate the human from the divine in our calling to godhead we cannot separate the essence of our divine nature from the attributes that must produce our works. May our Lenten journey bring us closer to our consecrated godhead to be one with the Father, through the son, in the Spirit recognized by our works of faith, hope and charity.
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