Reflection for the Gospel of Thursday in the Fifth week of Lent
Jesus is the eikon of God.
He is the visible face of God.
It was this that Jesus' interlocutors in today's gospel just couldn't get.
God was too accessible - and they could not get that.
But there was something else that they could not get:
Jesus was not only the eikon of God
but also the fullness of man. (GS 22)
It is in getting to know Jesus fully,
that we get to know ourselves fully.
We get to know ourselves fully,
we are surprised.
We start putting up resistances.
We feel uncomfortable because we start to see ourselves as we are,
warts and all.
We see our limitations,
our shadows.
Like Jesus' interlocutors,
we rebel against Jesus.
"What you show us cannot be true!
You are mistaken!"
But Jesus came to slowly and patiently help us make the connection
between ourselves and God.
Actually we were created to be like God.
We are created in the image of God.
We are sons and daughters of God!
And this was only possible if Jesus empties himself completely for us,
if he gives up himself completely as he did for us on the cross.
This is disturbing for us
because since he is our fullness,
we know that that is also our fate:
that we give our life for each other.
Let us not be scandalised with ourselves
if we find this painful,
for we are in good company:
When Jesus spoke about his suffering, death and resurrection
the disciples rebelled against him.
Peter told him,
"This shall never come to be, Lord!"
Jesus rebukes him.
When Jesus washes the feet of his disciples,
Peter refuses.
"No Lord! You will never wash my feet."
Again, we are afraid of a God who enters our suffering,
our human condition,
because since he is also our mirror,
he also shows how we are meant to be.
When we see others afflicted by the limits of the human condition:
pain, all sorts of anguish,
loneliness, victims of injustice...
We automatically cry out and rebel against God.
"Lord, this can never be!"
Yet, we cannot stop there.
We have to take the plunge
and immerse ourselves
into the anguish of these people,
in the same way that Jesus immerses himself into our anguish,
our pain and suffering.
Empty ourselves from our pride and egoism
and allow Christ to shine in and through us
that we may be true eikons of God
as we have been created to be.
The reference to John the Baptist,
the Jordan, and baptism is not coincidental.
The word Baptism comes from a Greek word
which means to be immersed.
It is a reminder
that we have been immersed in Christ at our baptism
and Easter, as the rich symbolism of Easter Saturday attests,
is a time to remember our baptism:
dying and being reborn in Christ,
a step closer to union with God. (Apotheosis)
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