Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent (March 22, 2018): Keeping the Covenant of Truth

Today’s Readings:

Genesis 17:3-9
Ps 105:4-9
John 8:51-59
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032218.cfm

USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_03_22.mp3

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
So the Jews said to him,
“Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

Good News Reflection: Keeping the Covenant of Truth

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is accused of being possessed. In effect, his accusers are calling him a liar because of the claims he has made about his relationship with God. Jesus turns that around and identifies them as the real liars. But is that fair? They truly believe that their analysis of the situation is accurate. They’re not deliberately lying.

The hardest substance in the universe is truth. It cannot be changed. It cannot be remolded into a different shape. It cannot be chiseled away or eroded into something less than what it started out to be. No matter what we believe, the truth remains constant and is not affected by anyone — not by our desire to rationalize away wrong choices nor by the whims of society and the world’s ever-changing morals.

Therefore, anyone who believes an alteration of the truth is believing a counterfeit, a lie. And everyone who professes one of the counterfeits is a liar, even if they feel absolutely convinced that their version of the lie is the truth. A lie does not become a truth just because we think it’s truth.

This is good news, because since truth is unchangeable, and since God only speaks truth, we know that whatever he promises in his Word is unchangeable. We can rely on his promises with absolute certainty.

In today’s first reading, God initiates his covenant with us. Psalm 105 points out that his covenant is “binding for a thousand generations.” To the Hebrews, “a thousand” meant “infinite” or “beyond counting.”

His covenant with us is a truth and it cannot be changed, it cannot be broken. We can walk away from it, but if we uphold our responsibilities as prescribed by this covenant, obeying God’s commandments, we benefit from its permanence. We can count on God’s love and faithfulness. To “break” the covenant means we’ve accepted a counterfeit.

The covenant is the Kingdom of God. When we enter into the covenant, God protects us, teaches us, brings us great friends, gives us good uses for our talents, and showers us with gifts just for the pleasure of watching us get excited about his generosity.

However, when we explore outside the Kingdom, we begin to believe the lies that we hear. But the King doesn’t want us to live outside of his covenant, so he sends us his Son, who is the way, the truth, and the life of the covenant. We can return to the covenant by reuniting with Jesus in the Eucharist and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Today’s Prayer:

Lord, may Your words never seem too astonishing to me. Help me to listen to You with an open heart, always willing to change what is wrong. Amen.

© 2018 by Terry A. Modica

• Vatican
• HĐGM Việt Nam
• CSsR
• DCCT
• Nhà sách Đức Mẹ
• Đức Mẹ Hằng Cứu Giúp