PERFECTION OF RELIGIOUS SACRIFICE


SATURDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT   

Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3,9-12; Jn 7:40-52

The Sacrifice of the Son of Man

As Saint Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 2:15, the spiritual man or a righteous soul can judge all things through the light of God’s word that he has in him. The word of God, which is the light of wisdom illuminating us and all creation, directs the mind and heart of the spiritual person to discern the truthfulness of all things and their purpose in his life. The knowledge of creatures and their usefulness is only a secondary good that the word of God confers on us when we receive it with faith; the first and most important being the knowledge of God and His holy will for us. Our knowledge of God through His Word helps us to order our lives to Him first as our Creator and ultimate good or end. Subsequently, we are able to use all things as they come our way as a means to reach our end in God. Because faith enables us to receive the word of God and build our lives on God, the unseen reality of our daily living, it is the foundational gift we receive from God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, according to the scriptures; for those who come to God must believe He exists and rewards those who seek and serve Him. Because of this, faith initiates our life of sacrifice that defines religion. There is no religion without sacrifice. We have noted obedience to the word of God as the core sacrifice in our worship of God.

We see an example of this in the lives of all the prophets of the Old Testament. Each, in his own way, defined by the vocation received from God, offered himself to God through obedience to the word of God received. Jeremiah the prophet lived this ideal in a special way. He so conformed his life and desires to the word of God that he proclaimed that he was sometimes mistaken for the Son of Man. His life was a type or a prefiguration of Jesus Christ’s life. His own words confirm this understanding of his life and career. “The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned. O Lord, that was when you opened my eyes to their scheming. I, for my part, was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughter-house, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!’” Even though the Lord revealed the plot and scheming of the unfaithful souls to Jeremiah, he nevertheless entrusted himself to God, trusting that he would preserve him from their plot. This is the sacrifice we become when we profess faith in God and believe in His word. It is only by this faith and openness to God’s will that we become true channels of God’s love and mercy to those gone astray in sin. Because Jeremiah was of the old dispensation, he prayed for vengeance on those who persecuted him. “But you, the Lord of Hosts, who pronounce a just sentence, who probe the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you.”

The imperfect prayers of the Old Testament prophets come from their imperfect knowledge of God. The Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God has brought us full knowledge of God and located the Word within our nature he assumed. The Son of Man is therefore the perfection of our life, prayer, and sacrifice. The Son of Man offers us the complete knowledge of the will of the Father for us, and also offers his life and our attacks on him to the Father in a perfect religious consecration or sacrifice.  He informed the Samaritan woman about the new religion when he said that a time will come when true worshippers of God will worship in spirit and in truth, which are the type of worshippers the Father is looking for. Only those who receive the Son of Man as coming from the Father can offer this desirable worship to God. Those who refuse the word of God remain in doubt and spare themselves in religion. “Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him.” Only faith gives us certainty about the origin of the One sent by God, for it reveals the unseen reality to our spiritual sight. As we grow in the religion of the Son of Man, we learn to pray and sacrifice ourselves to God in union with him, worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

Let us pray: May the working of your mercy, O Lord, we pray, direct our hearts aright, for without your grace we cannot find favour in your sight. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.     

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