Lent Day 32 | 40 to Life

Hello Redeemer family, I'm Jared Taylor and I’m the Parish Life Coordinator on Redeemer’s Vestry.  Welcome back to our 40 to Life daily reflections. Today is April 7, 2022, the 32nd day of Lent.

In today’s Gospel reading from John 8:51-59, we find ourselves in the middle of a very contentious, and almost angry, conversation between Jesus and the Jews in the temple. After reading this passage a few times, I found myself trying to imagine what it would have been like to witness this conversation. I picture Jesus, standing up in front of a hostile crowd of 10-20 people, defending the Truths, of himself, God’s glory, and his relationship with the Father. Jesus begins, and ends, his argument with the phrase “Very truly, I tell you…” which brings me to what I want to focus on today - the truth. Unfortunately I think we, as a society, have forgotten, or outright lost, what it means to be true. Whether the blame lay in the echo chambers of social media, the news media, or wherever else, I'm not really sure. We have come to a point where we define the word Truth based on our political, economic, or social agendas, and not on Godly truths, biblical truths, or empathetic truths.

Jesus could have been having this same conversation in the safe presence of those that follow him, but he didn’t. Jesus sought to change lives based on the truth. In today’s reading he risked verbal insults and being stoned to death, and we all know, that eventually, he gave his life for the truth.

I pray this Lenten season that our society rediscovers what it means to be true, because the truth is, God loves you. God wants you to love you. God wants us to love each other.