THE SON OF MAN WILL BE HANDED OVER

Wednesday, Second week of Lent
Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Theme: The Son of Man will be handed over

The holiness of life we learn from the Son of Man, which involves primarily dedication to the will of the Father, also has to do with bearing the injuries from those who are evidently out of tune with the will of God. Some who intend to inflict harm on the Son of Man are conscious of their evil will and disinterested in God. The injuries from these are painful but bearable to the one seeking God, in the sense that he understands that they constitute the forces of evil ranged against him; and their intention to disrupt his progress is well known to him. Among the opposition to the Son of Man are some who are in the community of God’s people, who are manifestly professing faith in God, but who desire to inflict harm on him. The injury these cause to a God-seeking soul is most painful because they do their harm with deep conviction that they are doing a holy work of God. The pain inflicted on the prophet Jeremiah by this kind of people in Jerusalem is evident in the first reading. “‘Come on,’ they said, ‘let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah; the priest will not run short of instruction without him, nor the sage of advice, nor the prophet of the word. Come on, let us hit at him with his own tongue; let us listen carefully to every word he says.” The attacks of these seemingly God-fearing people pierce the heart of the one seeking God because he has counted them among his brethren.

The consecrated soul is exposed to the darkness of isolation from those he considered brethren so that he will find his solace in no other than in God. It was painful for the prophet to consider his brethren his adversary. The thought that they have joined the rank of those who torment and seek his downfall was like a sword in his heart. “Remember how I stood in your presence to plead on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.” This pain was unique in the case of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He assumed human nature to save his people Israel. You could imagine his pain as he thought of it; hence, he took the twelve aside to find an outlet for the pain in his Sacred Heart. “Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the way he took the Twelve to one side and said to them, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and on the third day he will rise again.’” Our Lord’s divine knowledge made the difference between his acceptance of the pain and Jeremiah’s sorrowful plaint. His words and reaction help us to understand that the will of the Father enters every one of our situations and orders all things to our good. Thus, he assured the two, and all of us who follow him, that they will drink his cup of sorrows, trials, pains, and death, but the rewards that will follow are determined solely by the Father.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, to see your loving will in every situation and consecrate them all to you through faith in your love.