Overview:

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A Reflection for Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe. (Jn 4:53)

Find today’s readings here.

John the evangelist imagines the world to have two levels. One level is the eternal world that exists in God’s presence. In this eternal world, God’s promises are unbreakable and God’s life is everlasting. This is the world of God’s truth, which is his promise to Israel. This is the world of God’s light, which is his instruction through the Law and the Gospel. Finally, this is the world of God’s life, which is the power that overcomes death in every way.

The second level is the level of the transitory world in which we live. This is the world of human speech, which is often ignorant and sometimes dishonest. It is the world of human understanding, which is always incomplete. Finally, it is the world of transient life, which is subject to illness, evil and death. 

Humans live simultaneously in both worlds. We are made for the eternal world. One might even say that we have spiritual “organs and senses” that help us function in the eternal world. Even young children respond to love and joy without needing special lessons to learn them. At the same time, as we live our lives on earth, we grow used to the transitory world and can forget that our lives belong to eternity.

When the eternal and transitory worlds intersect, we can often recognize a miraculous event. John the Evangelist called these events “signs” and cataloged seven of them (although he referred to many more). The signs that Jesus performs are evidence of God breaking into human history. They are evidence that the transitory world is making way for the world that is eternal.

In today’s Gospel reading, John the evangelist recounts the second instance of the eternal world breaking into the transitory. God’s eternal life, incarnate in and moving through Jesus, turns back death as it encroaches on the royal official’s son.

Many readers are surprised when Jesus expresses irritation at the official’s request to cure his son. In the other Gospel accounts, Jesus responds with generosity and compassion to such requests. Throughout John’s Gospel, however, Jesus insists in many ways that the miracles are secondary to the faith they ought to inspire. In John’s Gospel, the miracles are merely passing signs of the eternal realities making themselves known in the scene. Jesus’ healing of the official’s son foreshadows the day when all death will be overcome by God’s own eternal life. Jesus shows frustration when people demand the miraculous signs without appreciating the deeper faith to which the signs call them.  

The royal official comes to that faith, although it is a process. John notes that he comes to believe twice. “Jesus said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus said to him and left” (Jn 4:50). When he hears that his son regained his health, he comes to believe again: “The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live,’ and he and his whole household came to believe” (Jn 4:53). His first act of faith was in Christ’s words that foretold the sign. His second was in Christ the Word. 

It is no easy thing to believe that an eternal and divine world is breaking into human history. Many of us may well have had events in our lives that hint at that fact or even confirm it. These signs are valuable, but will never be enough on their own. If today’s Gospel gives us any Lenten challenge it is to place our faith in the eternal truth and life that Jesus embodies. Only then will we come to know real and eternal life that is our true nature.

Michael R. Simone, S.J., is contributing editor at America and pastor of Gesù Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.