Saturday of the 4th week in Lent
Theme: The cross of a disciple
The 1st reading from the prophet Jeremiah, presents to us one of the challenges of a follower of Christ. The travail of the prophet Jeremiah is as a result of the fact that he is trying to guide the people through the right path that leads to life. By so doing, he is challenging the way of life of the people and throwing the truth to their faces; and they cannot stand it. As a result, they are making plans to destroy the prophet Jeremiah; for exposing their evil deeds.
We all as Christians and followers of Christ have a lot to learn from the way the prophet handled the situation. He did not go to battle the people himself, he rather handed over everything to God. By so doing, he is saying to you and I that the battle is of the Lord, we don’t have to fight his battle for him. This is very important because when God fights our battle, we are sure of victory; we cannot say the same thing when we fight our battles ourselves.
In the gospel reading from St. John, the power in the word of God confounded the people and they could not lay their hands on him. However, the Pharisees would have preferred the people to bring Jesus to them. When God is on your side, he will always use people to speak in your favour, even in your absence. We see that in today’s gospel, the people that were expected to bring Jesus to the Pharisees could not, because of the power in his words; and Nicodemous also spoke in favour of Jesus before the Jews. The situation has not changed, when God is on your side he will raise men and women in your absence to speak in your favour.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the most important thing is for us to live our life in such a way that is pleasing to God, and he will always stand with us when it matters most. This is seen in the life of the prophet Jeremiah, and also in the gospel reading of today. God never fails or disappoints his people. Befriend God today and you will forever be glad that you took that decision. May God grant us the grace to be connected to God at all times. Peace be with you.