It's Not Paranoia If They Really Are Out to Get You
Mar. 22: Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
There’s an awesome word, jeremiad, that we don’t use much anymore, but we probably should: “a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in verse, in which the author bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall.”
On a related note, today’s first reading is from the Book of Jeremiah.
Reading 1
Jer 20:10-13
I hear the whisperings of many: "Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!" All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. "Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion. O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD, For he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!
Poor Jeremiah, always thinks everyone is out to get him. But it’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you!
So he asks God not only to punish the wicked, but for the privilege of seeing it happen! It’s pretty presumptuous, but that’s Jeremiah for you. He’s very fiery.
Remember that the Bible doesn’t always explicitly condemn bad behavior. Sometimes we have to infer from the larger context. We know from Ezekiel that God "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live."
Jeremiah is written from Jeremiah’s perspective, and he’s only human. He has flaws like we all do. We might sympathize with the jeremiad, but that doesn’t make it right.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
We can still ask God for help, though! We need His intercession when we’re beset by enemies on all side, when the storm is crashing down and Hell itself is trying to capture us. Don’t ever feel like you can’t ask God to help you. Just know it might not come in the form you wanted or expected.
Verse Before the Gospel
See Jn 6:63c, 68c
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
This is Peter, after some of the crowds started to turn on Jesus. He knows Jesus is the only option to look to for help.
Gospel
Jn 10:31-42
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?"
The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods"'? If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 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."
Then they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power.
He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, "John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true." And many there began to believe in him.
When Jesus quotes scripture about “You are gods,” he’s referring to Psalm 82 specifically, but also alluding to Deuteronomy and Exodus.1 Basically, judges had the authority of speaking in God's name. And Jesus’ point is that He’s been consecrated by God directly, unlike the judges, so there’s no blasphemy is saying, “the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Still, they2 wanted to stone him, but it's still not time for that. Jesus doesn't call on God to destroy them, as Jeremiah did; instead, He flees to the Jordan, to circle back to the beginning of His ministry. He wants to remind people of why they believed in Him in the first place—His baptism.
Because it’s all going to end soon. It’s going to be tough for the disciples to stick with him in the coming days. Can they remember what Peter said: “To whom shall we go?”
No, they will not.
John obviously doesn’t mean each and every single Jew; he’s referring to the Pharisees when he says “the Jews.”