WANTING TO SEE JESUS

If someone very important is visiting in our village, we all want to come and see them.  For example, if President Nelson Mandela decides to visit us, there would be a very big queue lined up to shake his hand.  Or if Renaldo, the great football player from Brazil, comes into a football arena in Lusaka or some other town in Zambia, what a big crowd would turn out to see him!  Isn’t that true?

That’s why we can easily understand the message in today’s Gospel according to John, when some people approached the disciples of Jesus with an urgent request:  “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  You and I, indeed, all good Christians, really do want to see Jesus, to draw near to him, to know more about him, to learn what he has to teach us.

During this Season of Lent, we Christians here in Zambia have come to church regularly to see Jesus.  We see him in the scriptures that tell how God prepared for the coming of the Saviour through the words of the prophets.  We see him in the Gospels when he teaches and heals and suffers, dies and rises to new life.  We see him in the Eucharist, where he is really present in Body and Blood.  We see him in our companions in the small Christian communities who share the love of God with us.

In the first reading today, from the Prophet Jeremiah, we hear that God reveals himself very deeply in each of our hearts.  Our God is the God of life and compassion.  Time and time again in the past, he used to reveal himself to people and communicate with them through various events, for example in a burning bush, in a cloud, in lightning and thunder on Mount Sinai.

By giving us the Ten Commandments, God revealed himself by making a covenant with us, his children.  He wanted his people to seek him in truth and love by observing his laws.  And through Jeremiah, God tells the people:  “Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts.” 

What does this mean for Africans, for Zambians?  There is a very beautiful and powerful lesson in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council about God’s revelation of himself to all people.  It teaches us that no one who really tries to live a good life can say that she or he never knows God. According to the Council:

“Nor is God remote from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, since God gives to all people life and breath and all things (see Acts 17:25-28), and since the Saviour wills all people to be saved (see 1 Timothy 2:4).  Those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience -- those too may achieve eternal salvation.” [Dogmatic Constitution on The Church, no. 16]

Thanks to this type of God’s self-revelation to us, even our African ancestors knew something of God.  They gave him exalted names.  They tried to follow his law written deep in their hearts.  They put his actions into their philosophy of life.  Their proverbs reveal their understanding of him.  For example, the Bemba would say of him: “Lesa mufushi, tafulila umo”.  This means:  “God is a blacksmith, he does not make his wares for one person only”.  No, God works for everyone, God loves everyone!

It is this same God who works for everyone who gave us his Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Jesus is the one who reconciles us with God and with one another.  It was not easy for Jesus to fulfill that mission.  He had to go to the cruel death on the cross, obedient till death.  Through that awful death, he gained for you and for me, for all of us, our eternal salvation.

Remember what the Chewa proverb tells us:  “Kanthu ndi cala”, that is to say, “Where there is a will, there is a way”.  And the Bemba say: “Apali umunwe pali ibala”.  That is to say, “Where there is a finger, there is a field”.  The whole meaning is that where someone sacrifices themselves for some particular objective, they can really achieve it.  God will not let such a person struggle in vain.  It is the same for us.  If we honestly seek the Lord, we shall find him.  In today’s Gospel, people came seeking Jesus.  And so they asked the apostles where Jesus was?

For us, where shall we seek and find Jesus?  Surely, we need to seek him through prayer and repentance during this Season of Lent.  We can find him in the forgiving power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which we should receive before Easter.  And of course we find him through the Eucharist and other Sacraments, the Bible, small Christian communities, lay movements and prayer gatherings.  But we also can find God in the innocence of the child, in the needs of the poor, in the beauty of creation around us, and surely in the voice of our conscience which accuses us or justifies us.

Where do you seek Jesus?

SKETCH

Two young men, good friends, are seated near the side of the road.  One is quietly reading the Bible and thinking about the meaning of its message.  The other is very distracted by the passers-by, since he is looking longingly at each girl who walks by until she disappears.  His companion notices that.  He shows him the text in the Bible which says that, “He who looks lustfully at a woman has committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).  He tells his friend to repent!  They leave the place discussing the unceasing mercies of the Lord.

COMMUNITY PRAYERS

1. God our loving Creator, we thank you for revealing yourself to Africans for many years in the wisdom and good works of our ancestors, and we ask that we may more clearly see the fullness of your revelation in your Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!

2. God of Mercy, forgive the times we have not followed your commandments and continue to always show us your loving mercy for all that we do that is not according to your good will.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!

3. Jesus our Saviour, help us to seek you in all we do and find you in all the ways that you reveal yourself to us.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!

[Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, P.O. Box 37774, 10101 Lusaka, Zambia]