The Word today, Lent4C
- Admin
- Mar 26
- 2 min read
March 31 - April 05, 2025
Isaiah 65:17-21 Exultant optimism is perhaps not the mood of the times, but, it is the mood of this passage from Isaiah. One line anticipates the Gospel: no more will be found the infant living a few days only. Even the exaggerations are delightful.
John 4:43-54 John’s Gospel tells this familiar story with an intriguing twist: the parent is rst called a “court ofcial,” then a “man” and only towards the end, “the father.” For us all, some roles are more fundamental than others.
Ezekiel 47:1-9,12 “Awash with life” might be a good description of Ezekiel’s “vision” of the Temple. Exuberance is everywhere: And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal. The Gospel takes up the water image in a remarkable vision of healing.
John 5:1-3,5-16 As you listen to this story, you might bear in mind the corresponding one about about the man born blind in John 9. Both “patients” are put under enormous pressure. Under that pressure, the man born blind becomes stronger; in this Gospel, the man crumbles and betrays Jesus. What does being under pressure for the faith do to me?
Isaiah 49:8-15 The feeling of being abandoned led the prophet to afrm that God, like a mother to us, never ever forgets her people.
John 5:17-30 Part of the background to the opening verses is a contemporary Jewish discussion about whether God could really have ceased from creating, as it says in Gen 2:2. Part of the foreground is an anticipation of the raising of Lazarus, who will “hear his voice and live.”
Exodus 32:7-14 In this disconcerting story, God is furious that the people have so quickly abandoned him. Moses reminds God of who God is and so God relents, thanks be to God.
John 5:31-47 This compact reading can upset us today because of the robust comments of Jesus. In reality, we are eavesdropping on the later conversation between Christian and Jews. The evangelist parades before us ve “witnesses” to Jesus: the Father, John the Baptist, his own deeds, the Scriptures and, nally, Moses himself. The reading calls us all to give an account of the hope that is within us.
Wisdom 2:1,12-22 There is a contemporary ring to this reading from the book of Wisdom: the godless resent the faith of the believers. Such resentment foreshadows the reaction to Jesus.
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Jesus certainly disconcerted those who met him, as we hear in this reading. Who is he really? Where is he from? Who sent him?
Jeremiah 11:18-20 Jeremiah, always in difculty because of his calling, places his full and total trust in God. The psalm captures it well: Lord God, I take refuge in you.
John 7:40-52 Again, there is a contemporary ring about the range of opinions and the discord triggered by the person and presence of Jesus. What do I believe? What difference does it make?
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025aa, March 30). Fourth Sunday of Lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings
Comments