The Word - Thursday, 4th Week of Lent

 Let’s continue Jesus’ train of thought from the end of the Gospel.

 He says: “But if you do not believe [Moses’] writings, how will you believe my words?” … For when Moses wrote, he wasn’t just writing – it was I who was speaking to you. I am the eternal Word of the Father. Moses’ writings and I are one.

 When we talk about Jesus, we recall here – at Incarnate Word parish of all places! – that Jesus is the Word made flesh. All of human history was a preparation for the Incarnation. The Old Testament was integral to that preparation. Before Jesus became flesh, He prepared the world by speaking to her – through the prophets, through His kings, through miracles – and yes, in the Sacred Scriptures themselves.

 Interestingly, many people downplay the value of the Old Testament. “Because it’s Old,” they say, or because they think it is “replaced” by Jesus’ New Testament teachings. But that is the ancient heresy of Marcionism (not Martianism—that’s from Mars… I think). Marcionism dismisses the Old Testament and sees it as a stumbling block to the Real Jesus.

 We can tend towards that, I think. After all, how many good Catholics believe that there is a kind of “wedge” between the Ten Commandments and Jesus? I mean, how many people, when they hear the Commandments, hear them through the speakers of an angry father or an angry neighbor: don’t do that, you pesky kids! Stay off my lawn! … And don’t steal anything! The Ten Commandments easily become something that we think inhibits our freedoms and happiness.

 How many people have heard the Ten Commandments through the voice of Jesus?

Listen to some of the Commandments as though Jesus were saying them to you right now:

My dear friend, I am giving you so much and I will continue to provide for you. Do not steal. Stealing only makes you more enslaved and worried about things. … Do not have other idols. They will only disappoint you and leave you orphaned. I am with you; I am listening to you. And you are important to me … Do not gossip and bear false witness—and do not envy your neighbor’s spouse and stuff. Such things divide your heart and deepen the hurt and loneliness you feel. I am here for you; let me heal your heart; let me give you life.

 We can tend to be like the Pharisees in the Gospel today who don’t see Jesus’ teachings and Moses’ writings as coming from the same place: from the eternal word of the Father. Jesus says to us:  “If you do not believe Moses’ writings, how will you believe my words?” 

 So many people relay to me that they don’t hear Jesus when they pray. I tell you: when you read Sacred Scripture, you are hearing the voice of Jesus. It is HE who speaks to you. Soak in Scripture, my friends, and you will be soaking not only in Law and in Love, but in Jesus Himself -- the Word dwelling among us.