A Reflection for Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Find today’s readings here.
“So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.” (Jn 8:28)
This is a challenging text from the Gospel of John in which Jesus makes bold and perplexing claims about his relationship to God. So, let’s take a step back and look at a more fundamental question about how we approach prayerful reflection on Scripture passages.
Every day the staff of America write these Scripture reflections. And every day (we hope!) you read them. This daily practice of reading and writing about the Gospels, which any number of Catholic communities like America do, demonstrates a curious and often overlooked fact about divine revelation in Scripture: There are infinite ways to reflect on a given passage on the life and ministry of Jesus.
That’s not to say the Gospels are relative or untrue. On the contrary, for Christians, the Gospels are so true that no single truth is exhausted in them.
Ironically, the popular image of Christianity, at least in the secular world, is that of a community of superstitious, narrow-minded individuals who cannot and will not deviate from a determined and exclusive reading of the Bible. Even more ironically, many Christians perpetuate this image by acting like superstitious, narrow-minded individuals who cannot and will not deviate from a determined and exclusive reading of the Bible.
No, we are able—even obliged—to read, reflect and write about the Scriptures creatively; to draw deeper into the mystery of God’s inexplicable reality found within them, without becoming overconfident in our own interpretation.
But this comes with a lot of pressure to extract something, anything, of meaning or substance from the exercise. Admittedly, there are obscurities, inconsistencies and contradictions within the text, and we naturally find it difficult to accept its many degrees of mystery. Reflecting creatively on the Gospels may result in more questions than answers. But that realization can itself be spiritually enriching.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus confidently asserts his oneness with God the Father. He says it in a number of perplexing ways, but none of his listeners can make sense of them. Instead, they are left with more questions: "Who are you?” Maybe that question is enough for us to reflect on today.
