Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent, March 14, 2024

John 5, 31-47

Jesus said to the Jews:  “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.  I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Each of the Gospels was written by an Evangelist with a certain audience in mind, an audience which the Evangelist knew very well.  He knew what his audience wanted and needed to hear, and what they were able to understand.  Each Gospel was written to reinforce, to bolster, and to nourish the faith of the people for whom it was written.  It is interesting to compare the respective audiences of the Gospels of St. Mark and St. John, which we can do by considering what we know through the Fathers and also from the contents of these holy books themselves.  St. Mark wrote for the Christians in Rome before the persecutions broke out.  These Christians were mostly Gentile converts, and probably very many of them were menial laborers and even slaves.  These folks wanted to hear about marvels and wonders.  They wanted good, simple, stories.  And this is what Mark gave them.  He strengthened their faith by showing through the innumerable and varied miracles of Jesus that he was the Son of God.  The audience of John is rather different.  These were Jewish Christians who knew their Law and Prophets.  Some of them may have seen and heard the Lord while he walked on the earth.  John concentrates on the revelations Jesus makes through his words, as though making arguments before a jury.  They knew of the Lord’s miracles, and John presents the Lord’s teachings on what they signified, especially as pertaining to his identity as the Son of God.

In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus presents the case for his divinity and his equality and unity with the Father and summons, as it were, two witnesses, as required by the Law.  He speaks to the Jewish leaders, but through them to the first readers of this Gospel, and then to every generation since that time.  First, he reminds the Jewish leaders that John openly testified to him, identifying him as “the Lamb of God” and as “the Bridegroom”.  John was not making suggestions to people that they follow Jesus.  He practically orders his own disciples to follow him, and of this the Sanhedrin was very much aware.  “I do not accept human testimony.”  At the same time, the Son of God explains that he has a far greater witness that even that of John, whose powerful influence at the time is hard for us today to imagine.  This greater testimony comes from “the Father who sent me”, who validates the claims of his Son through works that only God can do.  Still, the priests and the elders reject him.  Why?  They claim Jesus breaks the Law but they are acting in bad faith: “But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.”  In short, they do not believe in the Son because they do not believe in the Father.  When thinking of these men we ought to remember the words of 2 Maccabees 4, 14 regarding the state of the Jewish leadership: “The priests were not now occupied about the offices of the altar, but despising the Temple and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of [Greek customs].”  And the Jewish leaders did not believe in the Father because they already had a god, and his name was Mammon (cf. Luke 16, 13).

The Lord cites a third witness, Moses, “because he wrote about me” in the Law.  But if the priests and the elders saw that Moses had indeed written of Jesus, they would have rejected even Moses, through whom God gave the Law.

We might wonder as we read all this: Why is it so important for Jesus to reveal his divinity, especially when he already knew that many would hate him for it and dismiss him out of hand?  Why could Jesus not have simply continued his work of healing and calling the people to repentance?  Because he was sent to save us from our sins, and to be saved we must know who he is and what he does for us on the Cross: by repentance and joining ourselves to him through faith and baptism we rise with him to heaven: “The one who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16, 16).  The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, desperately wants to save us.  If he desperately wanted to save those who persecuted him long ago, and who would ultimately kill him, we can only imagine how much he wants to save those of us who willingly hear him today.