If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me?

John 8: 46-59 Fifth Sunday of Lent (Extraordinary Form) March 25th, 2012

After hearing today’s Gospel it seems hard for us to believe that there could be people in this world with hearts so filled with malice that they would consider goodness and justice as reasons for accusing and condemning a just person. Yet there are such people. Today’s Gospel proves it and the history of the Church, sadly is one long demonstration of it.

Today our Blessed Lord asks His enemies: Who among you can convince me of sin? Only our Lord could make such a challenge, for only He was without sin. His challenge shows clearly His innocence, His purity, and holiness. His enemies couldn’t answer His challenge because they couldn’t finding any fault whatsoever with Him; however, this did not stop them from attacking Him. In fact, Jesus’ Goodness angered them all the more. It is as if someone would say; “It is just because we do not see any shadow of guilt in you, that we hate you so much; it is because we see that you are so good and pure and holy that we want you put to death.”

This reminds us of the first persecutions of the Church by the Roman Empire. As the hated for the Christians was intensifying, some of the provincial governors, moved by a human sense of justice, wrote to the emperor, asking; how shall we treat these Christians? We don’t find any kind of guilt in them. The emperor wrote them back: why trouble yourselves, looking for guilt? The mere fact of their being a Christian makes them guilty in and of itself. And so, if they renounce their faith, no matter how grave the suspicion be against them, they are to be set free. If they do not renounce their faith, they are to be condemned.

And it was in the Roman persecution, so too it is with some modern nations and their modern persecutions against Christ’s faithful. And so too will it be with the Christians throughout the ages remaining.

Why is this the case? What is really the offense of the faithful? Who can accuse them of treason against their county, or of conspiracy against the government, or of rebellion against its laws?

They are innocent. If they were guilty we wouldn’t say they are persecuted we would say they are punished. Christ’s faithful have not committed any crime of any kind, and for this many of them are put to death.

The persecutions of the faithful throughout the ages remind all of us of the prophecy of our Blessed Lord, which He addressed to His disciples: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.” (Jn 14,18). “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (Jn 15-20). “You shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” (Matt. 24,9).

But why does the world hate the faithful followers of Christ? Because hate is born of truth. The doctrine, the teachings preached by our Lord are the truth, plain and simple. In fact, our Lord said to His enemies: If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me?

If the Pharisees were convinced that our Lord wasn’t telling the truth, why didn’t they try to refute Him and to convict Him of His error? In their inability to do so, they turn to the weapons usually employed by those who though losing the argument, still wish to fight back: insult and derision. And so they cried out to Him: “You are a Samaritan!” that is, you are an enemy of your country; “and you have a devil!”
Isn’t this the same thing that happens today to the Church, who teaches the same doctrine, the same truths of Christ? How many enemies there are to refute her, to batter her down, and to destroy her! And when they don’t succeed, they take recourse to slander and vilification. They say, “The Church and the doctrine of Christ goes against the best interest of mankind, to enlightenment, to progress!”—They even say the teachings of the Church are against women.

“The Followers of Christ are the victims of bigotry and in the eyes of many are seen as the real problem in the world today!” –Everything has been said and is said today to blacken the teaching and the Church of Christ, but nothing of it all has been proved to be really so. It was and is the Pharisees all over again, who accused our Lord of being a Samaritan and of having a devil, and the only proof of their assertion lay in the audacity and the vehemence with which the charges were made.

There are many today who say they love the truth, and that the truth is beautiful, but they don’t follow it. And there are many others who deny that there is any such thing as objective truth. In both cases, these folks won’t admit the fact that they do what they do and believe what they believe or refuse to believe because they hate the truth; because the truth reveals to them the truth about themselves. All men ultimately believe in the truth; even those who deny such a thing.

For example, all men believe in the truth that states, “That thou shall not steal!”, especially when they have something stolen from them. But when this truth means that they have to make restitution for something stolen, suddenly this truth doesn’t appeal to them so much, for it shows them the thieves that they are. All men believe that the family is a sanctuary that must be respected and protected. Yet, for the man that lust after another man’s wife, suddenly the truth of “thou shall not covet they neighbor’s wife is no longer so appealing. And all men love life; yet because of their own selfishness, when another’s life calls them to sacrifice something of themselves, suddenly that other life becomes inconvenient and dispensable.

However for us who love the truth, even though it too shows us who we really are, sinners, if in light of this truth we seek with God’s grace to improve ourselves to become better, holier, then we show to the world, give proof to the world, that we are indeed friends of God, that we are indeed Christians not just in name but in fact.

But if we force our gaze away from the truth, and in its light refuse to acknowledge the truth about ourselves and change, then we prove that we are not friends of God. And then we too will join in the opposition against the truth, against all of those who preach the Truth, and ultimately will show ourselves to be in opposition to He who is the Truth Itself, Jesus Christ.

And this is the meaning of the words, which our Lord addressed to the Pharisees: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” To possess true joy and above to enjoy eternal life, it is necessary not only to hear the words of God, but also to put it into practice…For, “If any man keeps my words, he shall not see death forever.”

The malice of the Pharisee continues in the hearts of many in our day; those who cannot stand the light of truth, which reveals them to themselves as they really are; and so they try to turn their minds to other things, to anything but the conversion of their life to the truth. We might ask all of these the same question that the Pharisees put to our Lord today: Whom dost thou make thyself to be? O man, you who look down upon the Church and her priests, you, who smile at the Gospel and have no care of the men far greater than you, who, according to all reports have done the same as you are now doing, and they have passes away as you will pass away, and their memory has disappeared from among men, even as yours also shall disappear from the face of the earth.

If you persist in your present ways, Jesus will hide himself altogether from your soul as He did Himself from the eyes of His enemies, and conceal Himself from you in such a way that when you search for Him, you will not find Him. The Pharisees in their hardness of heart, when they could not best Jesus in argument took up stones to throw at Him, but He hid Himself from their eyes and went out of the temple.

It is in remembrance of this happening that the Church today covers the crucifixes and all the sacred images, as if to protect and defend them against the present enemies of the Church, and keeps them covered during these days in which she solemnly calls upon us to mediate upon the mysteries of the redemption. Let us then meditate on these sacred mysteries during this holy season; let us recall how often we have cast stones at our Lord in the form of the sins we have committed; how often we have constrained Him to leave our souls. But for all that He has not abandoned us altogether, He has not treated us as He treated His enemies, the Pharisees.

During these next couple of weeks Jesus desires to give us the light of His grace. The events of Holy Week to speak to our heart and move it; they impress our mind and invite meditation; they recall to us the sufferings and the death of the Divine Master, and inspire us with sorrow for our sin. May our hearts be softened, our souls warmed, and may our gratitude for God grow. Let us offer to the Lord sincere sentiments of sorrow for sins, and say to Him in all humility:

O Jesus, when our eyes are veiled with tears of agony, and can no longer see you, O Crucified Savior, in that dread hour have mercy on us! When our soul comes before the tribunal of your justice, to be judged, remember then the suffering and death you have undergone for us, and by the merits of your Passion, send us on to enjoy forever the vision, face to face, of your Father, to whom be glory and honor throughout all ages. Amen.
(This homily is greatly indebted to the Reverend Hercules H. Dominicis and his wonderful book, “The Ferial Gospels of Lent.”