Overview:

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A Reflection for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“They answered and said to him, ‘You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.’”

Find today’s readings here.

You know what they say about making assumptions! 

Whether because of where you live, where you work or where you come from, it’s so often that people make assumptions about you and me that, on many occasions, are not fair or are entirely inaccurate. As assistant director of Outreach, real phrases that I hear often are, “you work for an L.G.B.T.Q. ministry in the Catholic Church? You must support conversion therapy.” (I do not.) Or “Outreach is based in New York? Why does what you do pertain to me in the midwest?” (I discovered Outreach during my time at divinity school in Indiana.) However, my personal favorite is, “If you’re gay, you can’t be a real Catholic.” 

Our Gospel passage today for this Saturday in the fourth week of Lent presents a feeling that I, and maybe you also, know all too well. In response to Nicodemus’ genuine interest in Jesus, the Pharisees say to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” In this chapter early in John’s Gospel, shortly after the “Bread of Life” discourse offered in chapter six at the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus’ words of hope and eternal life are already causing division. (And there’s still a long way to go before his death and resurrection!) This division is to such an extent that in both yesterday’s and today’s readings, we hear that the people are trying to arrest him. 

The people are confused why this man from Galilee could be called a “prophet.” Nicodemus, who encounters Jesus privately in chapter three of John’s Gospel, encourages everyone to be patient. “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” he says to the Pharisees gathered. Nicodemus is saying: “Hold the phone, everyone! Trust me, this Jesus fellow just might be onto something.” 

Although Jesus doesn’t speak here, this passage finds us just halfway through our Lenten journey, and it appears that, through others making assumptions about him, Jesus is giving us a bit of encouragement. Maybe we’ve been eager to keep our Lenten promises, but on some occasions we’ve fallen short. Maybe we’re entering the church this Easter Vigil, but we keep encountering road blocks that seem to force us to second-guess ourselves. Maybe we are being called to speak our truth, yet we are fearful of how others might perceive us or treat us, especially in the church.

Yet Jesus in our Gospel reminds us to see ourselves as God sees us: beloved. Jesus knows how hard this can be, yet Jesus calls us to push aside the comments and assumptions people might make about us. Rather, Jesus calls us to submit our understanding of ourselves to how God, in Christ, knows us. In this way, no matter our gender identity or sexuality, race or ethnicity, Jerusalemite or Galilean, we might be united as God’s beloved around the table of the Lord and in awe at the empty tomb to which we are all called.

John Consolie is the assistant director of Outreach.