Praying to
God, Jeremiah complained: “All those who were my friends are on the watch
for any misstep of mine” [Jeremiah 20:10-13]. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time were not
precisely His friends, but they were certainly watching for any misstep of His
and this time they were sure they had caught Him in a very serious one. He had said something that appeared to leave
no room for an escape from being stoned to death. In responding to them Jesus dwells on the
issue of His words, but He chooses to take them beyond words [John 10:31-42]. “If I do not perform my Father’s works, do
not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe
the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and
I am in the Father.”
A popular
saying tells us that “one picture is worth a thousand words” and that indeed
was true, right up to the time that we learned how to tamper with pictures
digitally. What does remain true is that
one deed is worth a thousand words and Jesus appeals to the testimony of His
deeds to support His words. For us such
an appeal might be problematic, because our deeds are not always consistent
with our words and indeed they often override them. That, I think, is what Ralph
Waldo Emmerson meant when he remarked that “What you do speaks so loudly, that
it does not let me hear what you say.”
But Jesus’
deeds were totally consistent with His words, and it was this that gave them
credibility. The religious leaders knew that,
and they knew that they could neither deny nor change His deeds, so they would
try to distort their meaning: “It is in the power of Beelzebub...” [Luke
11:14-40]. I’m afraid the tactic is not
totally unfamiliar to us. As the saying
goes, “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts.”
By contrast
the ordinary people, who were not invested in any status quo, recognized the
value of Jesus’ deeds and accepted the “signs” Jesus performed. So, as we approach the celebration of THE deed
that sealed the credibility of Jesus’ words —His passion/death/resurrection—,
it’s a timely moment to pray for openness of heart to recognize it as the
ultimate validation of His words.
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