23 March 2023
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
The temptation to seek praise can be subtle yet quite deadly. The desire for praise can motivate us to undertake outwardly good and holy works, such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, yet ultimately this motivation is turned in on ourselves. If this self-centeredness is not rooted out, it gives birth to pride, and from there, all vice grows. This danger of self-centeredness and pride is the reason for Jesus’ harsh critique of his hearers in today’s Gospel reading, those who “accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God” (John 5:44).
By contrast, Jesus is the one who does “not accept human praise” (5:41). He comes not in his own name, but in the name of his Father (5:42), and when the time comes for Jesus to be glorified, he does not ask for glory for himself, but rather calls out to the Father, saying, “Father, glorify your name” (12:28). This is the humility of Jesus, the self-emptying of which Paul sings (Phil 2:7), which leads to the Cross, and through the Cross to the Resurrection.
Let us contemplate Jesus in his humility today. Seeing how Jesus sets aside human praise and seeks only his Father’s glory, let us be like him through the grace of his Spirit, so that we also might exist for the praise of God’s glory (Eph 1:12).