27 March 2020
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
The Light of the World enters into the city of Jerusalem unseen; there are those who wish to put out this fire. He is seen; He shines, as “a city on a hill cannot be hidden,” and no one lights a lamp and places is under a basket; “…it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house,” (Matthew 5:14-15). Though they see Him with their eyes, their hearts are yet blind. They believe Him to be from Nazareth—“…we know where He is from…”—and yet He is not from Nazareth. Do they not know the prophecy that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:1)? And yet they say “When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” They are truly blind: and even if they happened to know He was born in Bethlehem, still they would not see that He was not, ultimately, from there.
Jesus knows their blindness, so He trusts instead that they are not also deaf. “So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching…” What does He cry out? The Truth! He spells it out for them: He lets them know that He sees their blindness, their darkened hearts, their denial. By His very Words He shines a light into the darkness in which they choose to remain, shutting tight the eyes of their hearts against the Light they see!
And of course they are upset by this, just as one would be if they were asleep and someone suddenly turned on the light. As child would clench shut their eyes, pull the covers over their face, or perhaps bury their face in their pillow. The momentary pain in their eyes, and their frustration at having been forced from their rest may even drive them to anger; those inhabitants of Jerusalem that sought to arrest Him were behaving likewise. St. John wrote of such people in his first letter, as we read “Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin,” (1 John 1:5-7). Jesus says to them “You know me and also know where I am from,” and yet they continue to walk in darkness: they lie to themselves, as they find the light detestable. As Jesus said to Nicodemus in the night “…the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God,” (John 3:19-21).
Can we not be the same way, avoiding the Light of Christ because we are afraid of what it will reveal within ourselves? Is it not seemingly easier to continue to walk in darkness, than to walk to the confessional, to let in the Light of Christ’s mercy? Jesus went to the feast in Jerusalem to worship God and to be with His people, not to make enemies. All around people were making tabernacles, where He only desired to make a tabernacle in the hearts of those who would see Him, and let in the Light. Will you let Him in?