By Shiju Joseph csc –
Readings: Is 49: 8-15; Jn 5: 17-30
During the exile, the Israelites realized that it was their sinful and wayward life that caused them to lose their homeland and connection with God. It was a prolonged ‘Lent’ for them. They recalled their sinful ways, and repented. They believed that God had forsaken them and forgotten them. It is then God puts things in perspective for them through the prophet Isaiah (49:15): “Can a
woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet, I will not forget you.”
Isaiah exhorted them that it was time to be optimistic, not miserable. It was a time of exuberant waiting for the salvation that God promised: a time of returning to the Lord in complete faith and surrender to his ways. God does not ask for our humiliation of ourselves. Being pure compassion, he only waits for us to discover and celebrate his mercy when we find our way back to him. Hence
the focus is not our sinful past or present. The focus is on what God’s companionship can do to us. Jesus was so sure of his closeness to his Father that no amount of allegations and propaganda could deter him from doing what he believed to be his mission. He could say that rejecting him was rejecting God himself.
Isaiah and Jesus invite us today to a deeper understanding of God, and a closer relationship with him than we currently have. Let these days of Lent not be days of misery and mourning, but of a celebration of God’s compassion, faithfulness, and unconditional love even in the face of our ignorance and frailty.