4th Week of Lent : Monday 23rd March 2020

Jesus seems somewhat harsh in his reply to the royal official: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you do not believe.”

But we may gain more insight into the humanity of Jesus if we situate his response into the broader passage which John presents. Jesus has come back from Jerusalem where he had “done many things” presumably miracles and the people in Galilee welcome him because they had seen what he had done in Jerusalem.

Does the welcome imply an expectancy that Jesus would work miracles here also? John does not suggest that anyone in Jerusalem or Galilee believed in Jesus.

In one of our reflections for February, we considered Jesus’ human emotions and sighs. Jesus sighs over the failure of people to get beyond wonder and come to genuine faith. His sighs echo the sighs of God in the Old Testament at the waywardness of Israel.

Whereas God never forgot his Covenant with the Chosen People but Israel so quickly forgot God’s loving kindness and turned away again and again.

Jesus’ sigh was directed not only to the royal official but also to all of us. To hear and so learn to sigh with God over the evil of the world.

Lord, draw us closer to You by a more profound and more genuine faith.