A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (20:10-13)
Jeremiah said:
‘I heard so many whispering about me,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All those who seemed at peace with me
were watching for me to slip,
“Perhaps he will be tricked into error.
Then we shall get the better of him
and then we can take our revenge!”
But the Lord is at my side like a mighty hero.
So my opponents will stumble
and will not prevail.
Utterly shamed by their failure,
their eternal disgrace will not be forgotten.
Lord Sabaoth, you who test the righteous,
you see the heart and the mind;
I shall see your vengeance on them,
for I have revealed my cause to you.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord,
for he delivers the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.’
Things grow ever more desperate in the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah, who has to warn his people in the face of the approaching catastrophe of Babylonian aggression. Plots against him for his supposed disloyalty lead to this most anguished of his confessions. He reports the words of his enemies: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce him!’ They plot their revenge against the prophet. Jeremiah pleads for God to intervene, and in his extreme situation asks for vengeance. He maintains his confidence in the Lord, who ‘is like a mighty hero’ and ‘delivers the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers’.
Psalm 18 (17) The psalm expresses similar anguish as ‘waves of death’ threaten to overwhelm, but God ‘hears the voice’ of the one who prays.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John (10:31-42)
The Jews again took up stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you stoning me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered:
‘Is it not written in your Law:
I said, you are gods?
If it uses the word “gods”
of those people to whom the word of God was addressed
and scripture cannot be annulled –
can you say of someone whom the Father has consecrated
and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming”,
because I said, “I am Son of God”?
If I am not doing my Father’s work,
do not believe me.
But if I am doing it,
then even if you do not believe me,
at least believe the works I do;
so that you know and recognise
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’
They again sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
He went back again to the far side of the Jordan, to the district where John had first been baptising, and he stayed there. Many people who came to him said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many there believed in him.
This excerpt from John chapter 10 sees Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication. It seems that his statement in 10:30 ‘The Father and I are one’ provoked this further attempt to stone Jesus, which reflects the growing antagonism and violence of his opponents. Jesus uses Scripture to demonstrate that his claims are not offensive to the Father. As earlier, in the discussion after the healing of the paralysed man in John 5, Jesus speaks of the ‘works’ which he performs as proving that he is from the Father. Things grow more dangerous for Jesus, but for now he escapes arrest. His refuge on the far side of the Jordan, where John had baptised, is a return to the place where his ministry began. Is Jesus renewing his strength for what lies ahead? This is also a place where there is faith, for ‘many there believed in him.’
Be encouraged by the faith of those around you, even if it is hidden.
Pray for those who believe despite rejection and persecution.