HOMILY LENT WEEK 05 01 (Year C)

On Being Light to the World

(Dan 13:1-64; Ps 23; Jn 8:12-20)

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On a train journey East, Archbishop Emeritus Adam Exner OMI sat next to a businessman who was complaining quite openly about almost everything in his life – his work, wife, family, political situation, etc. After some time of this, Adam spoke up and told the man, “Sir, it seems to me that you don’t know who you are, where you are from, and where you are going.” The man was shocked into a reflective silence for a few minutes, then, Adam recounts, they had a profound heart-to-heart talk about life.

Sometime later, Adam was walking in another part of the train when it stopped in a remote community in Ontario. Curious, he looked out the window of the car and saw someone on a stretcher being taken off the train. When he returned to his seat as the train continued on its way, the man’s seat was empty. He was the one taken off the train. To this day Adam has no idea what happened to him – if it was a heart attack or something else, or if he even survived. But he will never forget the deep conversation they had about this man’s life, and wondered if it might have served as a preparation for a possible death.

The gospel today answers those questions for us, and invites us to celebrate our belonging to Christ the light of the world as beloved children of God.

Whenever someone is applying for employment, a good reference certifying one’s integrity, competence and readiness for the job is always one’s best asset. In his discussions with the religious leaders of Israel, Jesus was doing something much more serious than applying for a job. He was claiming to be the “light of the world” (John 8:12). He had already told them that God was his Father, but they didn’t believe him (5:18). To them he was a fraud and a threat to their authority. So, they tried to trap him by demanding some proof of his claims, his identity.

But Jesus was secure in the Father’s love for him, and completely confident, both in who he was and what he had been sent to do. At his baptism in the Jordan and at his transfiguration, he was blessed by the Father, who testified on his behalf by calling him his “beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). That powerful archetypal blessing grounded Jesus in the Father’s love, cemented his filial intimate relationship with the Father, sealed his identity, and gave him the courage and strength to both wash his disciples’ feet, and freely give his life on the cross. These were his two references – himself and God the Father. For Jesus, that was all the evidence that matters. And so it should be for us.

By our baptism, confirmation, and belonging to the Body of Christ, the Church, we know where we come from, where we are going, and who we are. We are beloved sons and daughters of our loving God, and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. This gift of faith gives us an infinite horizon, a meta-narrative, a bigger picture into which we can place all the events of our lives. It can even gives deep meaning and purpose to the trials and suffering we might experience, leading us into radical discipleship and redemptive suffering that is connected to the suffering of Christ.

When the world outside doesn’t affirm us, it is clear that our confidence and self-assurance, like that of Jesus, has to come from within. We need to remember who we are, just as Jesus did. And this is who we are – children of God. Just as God did with Jesus at his baptism, God testifies on our behalf. God tells us over and over, “You are my beloved son or daughter. You have great dignity in my eyes. This is the best “job reference” we could ever hope to have. So, the next time we find ourselves doubting ourselves, we can look in the mirror and remember who we are!

Susanna, in the first reading, is revealed as a strong daughter of Judah who knew the answer to those critical questions – where she came from, where she was going, and above all – who she was. That inner assurance and faith empowered her to reject the lustful advances of the elders who had intimidated many others, and entrust her life to her God.

The Eucharist is a sharing in the mystery of God’s incomprehensible love, making present for us that love of Jesus on the cross. In receiving communion, we receive who we are, the Body of Christ. May our celebration strengthen our faith in our own identity and empower us to also be a light to those around us, as we reflect that light of Christ.