March 30, 2017
Thursday, Lent Week Four
Arguing with God
“Lord, remember us,
for the love you bear your people.” The Responsorial (Psalm 106) presumes the value of prayer. Now we see an
example of it.
In Exodus 32: 7-14 Moses
gives God good advice, reminds him of what God seems to have forgotten, and
gets God to change his mind about what he had planned to do. Yeah, right.
This is a good example of the way God inspires the Scripture
writers. He inspires them with truth, but truth expressed in the kind of words
and images the writers understood, and that the people for whom they were
writing would understand. Sometimes a story incorporates assumptions everyone
had that were false, but which it was not yet time to challenge.
From our way of seeing things, our prayer does affect what God
does. God already knows from all eternity what he is going to do, but he has
made some of it conditional on our asking for it. Why?
God does not want to save the world unilaterally. He wants humans
to have a part, real part, in it. One way in our power is to pray for each
other. Then God can say, truly, that what he does is our gift as well as his.
We ask, God answers, and we are joined in love.
Also, if we “argue” with God, as Moses did, it lets God inspire us
with questions and answers that lead us to clearer understanding of ourselves
and him. God is a teacher; we are disciples. Disciples learn through dialogue.
In John 5: 31-47 Jesus
is trying to dialogue, except that it takes two to tango, and Pharisees never
answer.
Jesus gives four reasons for believing in him and seven why people
don’t.
Those who bear witness to Jesus are: 1. John the Baptizer, whose life made people trust him; 2. the works (good deeds and miracles) Jesus
performs; 3. the Father himself; 4.
the Scriptures, and specifically
Moses.
People refuse to believe because 1. God’s word is not abiding in their hearts; 2. and this is because of
their free choice not to accept
Jesus, the “one God has sent”; 3. they don’t desire eternal life enough to come to Jesus for it; 4. they accept others who do not come in the
name of God; 5. they accept praise from one another; 6. they do not seek the glory that comes from God;
7. they don’t believe Moses or the
Scriptures.
Later, Jesus will specify that all the reasons for believing in
him are secondary to the testimony the Father and Spirit give within the hearts
of those who are open. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in
me; but if you do not, then believe
me because of the works themselves.” Those whose hearts are good will just know.[1]
The readings in the Liturgy
of the Word are intended to encourage reflection.
So take time to go through the “four and seven” above. See which apply to you.
[2]
Initiative:
Believe Scripture as divine revelation. Read it as human dialogue.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your comments!