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The Catholic Telegraph
March 25, 2000On the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent, it is always permitted to use the readings from Year A of the lectionary cycle because of the connection of these readings with the preparation of the catechumens for baptism. But the Church also provides proper sets of readings for Years B and C, for use ad libitum, presumably for congregations where there are no catechumens or where the various ritual stages of the catechumenate are observed at other Masses.
For Year B, the gospel readings on these three Sundays are from John. They deal with the third basic theme of Lent, i.e., Jesus’ coming glorification through His passion, death, and resurrection. The gospel for this Sunday is about the cleansing of the temple and the Jewish leaders’ demand for a sign that would validate His authority for behaving in this way. Of course Jesus had already begun to offer signs of His messianic mission at the wedding feast of Cana, the account of which immediately precedes our gospel passage, and now He offers the promise of His resurrection after the temple of His body had been destroyed. But that wasn’t the kind of sign the leaders had in mind. They wanted the big, cosmic event that would compel everybody to believe in Jesus whether they wanted to or not, an incontrovertible demonstration that left no room for choice or faith. They were daring Him to convince them of the value of His credentials. They wanted Jesus to conform to their criteria of proof.
This demand for reducing the gospel message to the requirements of ordinary human thought patterns forms the subject of the reading from First Corinthians. At Corinth there were some who found other Christian preachers more appealing than Paul. These others seemed to have a greater depth of wisdom than the plain spoken Paul. So Paul takes out after those who seemed to be demanding more proof than he himself had offered them.
He tells them that the demand for demonstrations of cosmic power ("signs") and for profound human wisdom is unbelievers’ talk. That’s not what we Christians are all about. All we have to offer is Christ crucified, a dead criminal. This presents problems to the Jews and is unpersuasive to the philosophically minded Greeks. But believers realize that what God has done is to turn everything upside down. What looks like powerlessness is really the strength of God and what seems to be absurdity is the wisdom of God. And what God offers us in the power and wisdom that is Christ far surpasses human categories of strength and understanding.
As Paul plays out these contrasts between believers and unbelievers, between human wisdom and the foolishness of God, between human power and God’s weakness, He is recalling to our minds the virtuosity of God who effects our redemption through apparently inadequate and inappropriate means. Christ expresses the power of God by giving Himself away for our salvation. Christ expresses the wisdom of God by concluding His life as a criminal outcast.
Like the Jews who wanted signs and the Greeks who wanted philosophical speculation, we might have wished that God had done things differently. Faith might be easier if God’s plan of salvation had been a little more in accord with our ordinary human way of doing and explaining things. God might have done a better job of convincing us, of proving things to us. But God is neither a magician out to impress the crowd nor a logician who works in argumentation. God is a lover and lovers don’t always act predictably.
Of course there is a rational dimension to our faith. It’s not a hodgepodge of disconnected and fanciful elements. There is a fundamental consistency to it that has kept theologians busy for millennia. But, in order for it to make sense, we have to accept the basic premise that there is a "foolishness" about God that is wiser than human wisdom and a "weakness" that is greater than human strength.
But there’s still something more. Just as we have to try to understand salvation on God’s terms, terms in which apparent weakness is really strength and apparent foolishness is really wisdom, so we have to accept salvation on God’s terms. Just as the strength of Christ lay in His gift of Himself on the cross, so our strength in Him lies in our own self-giving to Him and to those He loves. Just as the wisdom of Christ consisted in His willingness to end His life as a criminal outcast, so the wisdom in our life lies in our willingness to imitate His humility and acknowledge that the real worth of our life does not consist in what we can achieve for ourselves but in what w e can give away with and for Him. There’s nothing wrong with being powerful and wise, as long as we define the terms the same way God does.
As we prepare during these weeks of Lent to walk once more to Calvary with Christ, it’s good for us to recall what that really involves.
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Conversation Questions
Where do I find power and wisdom in my life?
What signs do I look for from Christ?
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