April 10, 2025
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 254
Reading 1
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
"My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God."
God also said to Abraham:
"On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for
ever.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
Verse Before the Gospel
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
Gospel
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.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041025.cfm
Commentary on
Genesis 17:3-9
At the beginning of chapter 17 of Genesis, we are told that
Yahweh appeared to Abram, now 99 years old, and identified himself as: “I am El
Shaddai” (Gen 17:1). In Hebrew, El Shaddai was an ancient
divine name of the patriarchal period, preserved mainly in the ‘Priestly’
tradition, and rarely used outside the Pentateuch (except in Job). The usual
translation of El Shaddai as ‘Almighty God’ is inaccurate, as
‘Mountain God’ is the more probable meaning. Yahweh (El Shaddai) now
promises to make a covenant with Abram, and to pledge him a long line of
descendants. Abram bows down in deep adoration.
Abram is to become the father of many nations, and because
of that, his name is to be changed from Abram to Abraham. We need to remember
that, for the ancients, a name did not merely indicate a person or thing;
rather, it made a thing what it was, and a change of name meant a change of
destiny. Abram and Abraham are in fact just two dialectical forms of the same
name whose meaning is ‘he is great by reason of his father, he is of noble
descent’. Another variant is Abiram (Num 16:1; 1 Kings 16:34). The additional
‘ha’ in the form Abraham is explained by folk etymology as coming from ab-hamon
goyim, i.e. “father of a host of nations”.
On his side, God makes a solemn commitment to Abraham, and
to all his descendants in perpetuity, to be their God.
I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from
you.
There will indeed be a long line of kings—and a very mixed
bunch they are. But, no matter how corrupt the kings could be, the promises
made to Abraham continued to be fulfilled. Paul, writing to the Romans, will
speak of Abraham’s faith in God’s promise which, by that time, had been so
clearly fulfilled.
It is a pledge made forever:
I will establish my covenant between me and you and your
offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant,
to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
Yahweh further promises to give them the whole land of
Canaan to own in perpetuity. This is a pledge which Christians, unlike some
Jews, would now read in a less than literal way.
Finally, Abraham and his descendants are to ratify this
covenant, and on their part, are to keep the covenant by their total allegiance
to their one and only God.
Abraham, as the Gospel indicates, is regarded as the father
of all God’s people. As Matthew’s genealogy indicates, he is the ancestor of
Jesus, and in Jesus we find the complete fulfilment of the promises made long
ago. We read in today’s Gospel:
Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day;
he saw it and was glad. (John 8:56)
The covenant made between Abraham and God is both sealed and
renewed in Jesus Christ. And through Jesus, people everywhere become, in a
special way, children of God. Let us rejoice in having God as our Father and
Jesus as our Brother. We do so by the way we live our lives.
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Commentary on John
8:51-59
Jesus continues to challenge the Jews about his identity,
and they continue to misunderstand the real meaning of what he says.
Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never
see death.
This they can only understand in a literal sense.
But they do see the implication of the words that Jesus is
claiming to be more than Abraham or any of the prophets. And they ask:
Who do you claim to be?
This was the same question they asked of John the Baptist
(John 1:22), who gave a very different answer.
Jesus makes it perfectly clear to them by talking of his
“Father” and then saying that the Father is the one they call “our God”. But he
continues by saying that they do not know the Father, although they may think
they do. And they do not know the Father because they do not know Jesus. Jesus,
however, knows him and keeps his word. Then comes the supreme provocation:
Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and
was glad.
This could be a reference to the joy following the
unexpected birth of Isaac, when the promise was made to Abraham that his seed
would be:
…as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that
is on the seashore… (Gen 22:17)
But this angered the Pharisees and they retorted:
You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen
Abraham?
Jesus then makes the ultimate claim:
Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.
Again we have Jesus using the term “I AM” of himself. He
unequivocally identifies himself with Yahweh. The Pharisees are horrified by
what they regard as terrible blasphemy. The verb “was” in the passage is, in
some translations, expressed as ‘came to be’, and is used for all that is
created, while ‘I AM’ is used only of the Word, co-eternal with the Father-God.
The Pharisees then:
…picked up stones to throw at him…
But they were not able actually to carry out their plan to
kill him because his “time” had not yet come. Then come words of prophetic
significance:
Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple…
It is a striking summary of Jesus’ role.
Jesus “hid himself” in his humanity. The Godhead in Jesus,
which he has just spoken about, was largely concealed (except to those with the
eyes of faith). St Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises speaks
of the divinity being hidden during the terrible hours of the Passion. St Paul
in his Letter to the Philippians speaks of Jesus “emptying” himself and taking
the form of a slave.
And “he went out of the Temple”—when Jesus died on the
cross, the veil guarding the Holy of Holies in the Temple split open, revealing
the sacred inner sanctuary to the world. God was no longer there; he had left
the Temple. And he now dwells in a new Temple, no longer a building, but a
people, the Church, the Body of the Risen Christ.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1055g/
Thursday,
April 10, 2025
Season of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord God,
in your son Jesus Christ
you have given us a new name, the
name of your Son himself. May we live up to our new destiny, to be people-for-others
who serve and commit ourselves together with Jesus, your
Son and our Lord forever.
Gospel Reading - John 8: 51-59
In all truth I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never
see death.
The Jews said, 'Now we know
that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you
say, "Whoever keeps my word will never know the taste of death." Are
you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too.
Who are you claiming to be?'
Jesus answered: If I were
to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory is
conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, 'He is our God,' although
you do not know him. But I know him, and if I were to say, 'I do not know him,'
I should be a liar, as you yourselves are. But I do know him, and I keep his
word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it
and was glad.
The Jews then said, 'You are not
fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!' Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you,
before Abraham ever was, I am.
At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus
hid himself and left the Temple.
Reflection
Chapter 8 seems an
exhibition of works of art, where it is possible to admire and contemplate
famous paintings, next to one another. Today’s Gospel presents us a painting,
and a dialogue between Jesus and the Jews. There is not too much connection
between one and the other painting. It is the spectator who, thanks to his/her
attentive and prayerful observation, succeeds to discover the invisible thread
that binds the paintings, the dialogues among themselves. Thus, we penetrate
into the divine mystery which envelops the person of Jesus.
•
John 8: 51: Whoever keeps the word of Jesus will
not see death. Jesus makes a solemn affirmation; the prophets said: Oracle of
the Lord! Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you!” And the solemn affirmation is the
following: “Whoever keeps my word will not see death!” This same theme appears
and reappears many times in the Gospel of John. These are words of a great
depth.
•
John 8: 52-53: Abraham and the prophets died.
The reaction of the Jews is immediate: “Now we know that you are out of your
mind. Abraham died and the prophets also died. And you say: “Whoever keeps my
word will never see death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
The prophets also died. Who are you claiming to be?” They did not understand
the importance and significance of the affirmation of Jesus. It was a dialogue
of the deaf.
•
John, 8: 54-56: I am glorified by my Father.
Once again and as always Jesus hits on the same key: He is so united to the
Father that everything that he says or does is his. Everything is the Father’s.
And he says: “The one who glorifies me is my Father, the one whom you say, ‘He
is our God!” and you do not know him. But I know him. And if I were to say, ‘I
do not know him’, I should be a liar, as you yourselves are. But I do know him,
and I observe his word. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to think that he would
see my Day; he saw it and was glad.” These words of Jesus must have been like a
spade which wounded the self-esteem of the Jews. To tell the religious
authority: “You do not know the God whom you say you know. I know him and you
do not know him!” It is like accusing them of total ignorance exactly regarding
the theme on which they think they are specialized doctors. And the final word
increases the measure: “Abraham, your father, rejoiced in the hope of seeing my
Day, he saw it and was glad.”
•
John 8: 57-59: “You are not fifty yet, and you
have seen Abraham! They took everything literally, thus showing that they did
not understand anything of what Jesus was saying. And Jesus makes another
solemn affirmation: "In all truth I tell you: before Abraham ever was, I
AM.”
For those who believe in Jesus, here we reach the heart of
the mystery of the story. Once again they pick up stones to kill Jesus. But
neither this time will they succeed, because his hour has not as yet come. The
one who determines the hour is Jesus himself.
Personal Questions
•
It is a dialogue with the deaf between Jesus and
the Jews. Have you sometimes had the experience of speaking with a person who
thinks exactly the opposite of what you think and is not aware of it?
•
How can we understand this phrase: “Abraham,
your father, rejoiced in the hope of seeing my Day, he saw it and was glad”?
Concluding Prayer
Seek Yahweh and his strength, tirelessly seek his
presence! Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders, the judgements he has
spoken. (Ps 105: 4-5)
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