"BELIEVE BY THE WORKS I DO"
The truth can hurt, even the truth preached by Jesus. The truth of Jesus demands change; it requires that we accept our suffering and self-denial, and that we abandon our selfishness in order to be generous in our love and service of others.
As Holy Week draws near, opposition to Jesus' ministry intensifies. We just read in the Gospel of John, "If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe Me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." (Jn. 10:37-38).
One of the most amazing things in the life of Jesus is the fact that so many people rejected Him. Jesus is the personification of all that is good and holy and desirable, and He wishes to draw all people to Himself to make them perfectly and eternally happy. Not only did He preach the goodness and love of His Father for all, but Jesus revealed that goodness and love by His actions in His own humanity. When some wanted to stone Him, He protested, "Many good deeds have I shown you from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?" (Jn. 10:32.) They then accused Him of blasphemy because Jesus made Himself God, and yet He was speaking the truth. His claim to be divine was confirmed by signs and miracles.
The rejection that Jesus suffered was nothing new. In today's first reading, Jeremiah, who did nothing but speak the truth in God's name, was likewise rejected. When he warned the people about the destruction of Jerusalem unless they repented, he was arrested, beaten, and put in stocks.
Yes, it is amazing that Jesus, as well as Jeremiah and other prophets in Israel, were rejected by so many people when they spoke the truth. Why were they rejected? There are many complicated reasons, but one reason is that sometimes the truth can hurt. When the truth makes us face our own failures and inadequacies, the easiest way to escape our responsibilities and the need to change is to ignore or deny the truth.
When a teacher informs irresponsible parents that their child is both an academic and a disciplinary problem in school, the evaluation is a judgment of the parents as well as of the child. Rather than face their own failure and the need to do something about the child, the parents take the easy way out and refuse to accept the teacher's report.
The truth can hurt, even the truth preached by Jesus. The truth of Jesus demands change; it requires that we accept our suffering and self-denial, and that we abandon our selfishness in order to be generous in our love and service of others.
Let us pray that we will never take the easy way out by rejecting Jesus and His truth. Our reception of the Eucharist is our pledge of salvation and our commission to spread the good news of the Gospel.