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Hard of Heart

  • gospelthoughts
  • Dec 15, 2016
  • 4 min read

Friday of the Third Week of Advent A-1

Entrance Antiphon Behold, the Lord will come descending with splendour to visit his people with peace, and he will bestow on them eternal life.

Collect May your grace, almighty God, always go before us and follow after, so that we, who await with heartfelt desire the coming of your Only Begotten Son, may receive your help both now and in the life to come. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 56:1-3.6-8; Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 7-8; John 5:33-36

"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. (John 5:33-36)

Hard of Heart For much of the modern period there has been a growing prejudice against the possibility of miracles — meaning an intervention by the Creator that suspends natural laws and brings about something that is beyond the powers of nature. David Hume (1711-1776) discussed miracles in his famous Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (Section 10), defining a miracle as “a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent.” Hume argues that inasmuch as causes cannot be determined from effects, it is impossible to argue from the existence of the world to the existence of God. Miracles, then, could be the only possible support for theistic religions — but Hume argues that in fact miracles have never happened anyway. I mention Hume only to illustrate the modern secular prejudice against any plausibility of miracles. Miracles are but events whose natural causes we are not yet aware of, or they are the innocent fabrications by the superstitious. The Gospels are full of such instances, and the resurrection of Christ is the pre-eminent example of this. Now, in fact this agnostic assumption has in part affected many religious scholars, and for quite some time it fuelled a profoundly liberal approach to the interpretation of the Scriptures. In the case of the theist, the supposition is that it is not in character for God to act in ways above nature. Rather, God acts only in accord with the laws of nature he himself has established. Where there is no belief in God anyway, of course all possibility of miracles is out of the question. Where there is this modern prejudice, an appeal to the miracles of Christ in Scripture falls on deaf ears. In our Gospel today, our Lord was dealing with a firm prejudice against his miracles, but not of the modern secular kind. His hearers witnessed his miracles. They saw them. They were steeped in the Old Testament revelation. Christ’s miracles ought to have convinced his enemies — many of the religious leaders, no less — that he had come from God. But they did not. The prejudice was unrelenting.

Our Lord appeals to the example and status of John. “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” John’s holiness and prophetic status was accepted, and the leaders “chose” to “enjoy his light” (John 5:33‑36). Our Lord adds that this was “for a time,” alluding to the hidden resistance to his message too. But in any case, his prophetic mission was indisputable, and the leaders did not dare to call it into question publicly for fear of the people. Now, our Lord says here that he had a testimony far weightier than did John. His work testified to him, and to the fact that the Father had sent him. Jesus Christ completely outclassed John in terms of the authority with which he taught and the miracles he did to support that authority. Many instances could be given of this. In the presence of his enemies on one occasion, our Lord was presented with a paralytic. He gazed at the man lying before him, and proceeded to forgive his sins. No prophet or king or priest had ever presumed to do that, and with good reason, for it was an act only God could do. But Jesus calmly and without hesitation did it. Then, to prove that he had authority to do this, he completely and at a word healed the man of his paralysis. The man got up and walked outside carrying his mat. What could be said about this? How could its implications be resisted? But resisted it was. The resistance and mounting hostility of the scribes, the Pharisees and others of the leaders shows the depth to which the human spirit can resist the manifest action of God before them. Now, if that is so in reference to miracles, how much more would it be so in reference to the presence and work of God in ordinary life — in what is not miraculous. That is to say, we ought take our Lord’s words in our Gospel today, in which he refers to the work he has been doing, as a warning to us lest our hearts become hardened against grace and the light of conscience. The leaders hardened against Jesus Christ, despite the manifestations of his divine authority. Our hearts can harden against the grace of the Holy Spirit if we do not take steps to live in Christ faithfully, and to repent promptly when we fail to do so.

Let us guard against sin — all deliberate sin no matter how minor it may be. Our ideal ought be to avoid any deliberate sin — of course all sin is deliberate in the nature of the case. We must avoid sin, for sin offends God and hardens our hearts against him. If we sin, the one thing that is absolutely imperative is that we repent. We ought repent of the slightest deliberate sin. That must be our ideal. The way to goodness and sanctity of life is very largely that of ongoing, daily repentance from all sin.

(E.J.Tyler)


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