Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent
The Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it. Then you showed me their doings. But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plans against me, saying, "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit, And let's cut him off from the land of the living, That his name may be no more remembered." But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously, Who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; For to you I have revealed my cause.
Lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, Ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver. Lord, my God, if I have done this, If there is iniquity in my hands, Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the righteous; Their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God. My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, Yes, a God who has indignation every day. If a man doesn't repent, he will sharpen his sword; He has bent and strung his bow.
Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" So a division arose in the multitude because of him. Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said to them, "Why didn't you bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You aren't also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? But this multitude that doesn't know the law is cursed." Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?" They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." Everyone went to his own house,
The crowds surrounding Jesus find themselves caught in a web of confusion and contradiction. Some recognize him as the prophet, others as the Christ, while still others dismiss him based on his Galilean origins. Notice how their expectations about where the Messiah should come from blind them to who stands right before them. The irony runs deep—they think they know the scriptures, yet they miss the fulfillment happening in their midst.
This same dynamic plays out in our own lives when we become too attached to how we think God should work. We create mental boxes for divine action, expecting grace to arrive through familiar channels or in predictable ways. But God often shows up in the ordinary, the unexpected, the overlooked—much like a carpenter's son from an unremarkable town.
The temple officers return empty-handed, struck by something they cannot quite name: "No man ever spoke like this man!" Here we encounter the power of authentic truth. When we meet genuine goodness or hear words that ring with real wisdom, something in us recognizes it, even when our minds resist.
Jeremiah's experience of being "like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter" foreshadows the path Jesus walks—rejected by those who should welcome him most. The prophet trusted that God sees what others miss, that divine justice operates on a different timeline than human revenge.
In our daily encounters—whether at work, in our neighborhoods, or even in our parishes—we face the same choice as those crowds. Will we remain trapped by our preconceptions about how God should appear, or will we stay open to recognizing truth wherever it emerges?
What expectations about God's action might be limiting our ability to see grace at work around us? When have we, like those temple officers, found ourselves unexpectedly moved by authentic goodness? How do we cultivate the courage to speak up for truth when others dismiss it?