Jn 12,44-50
Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in me from staying in the dark any more. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world: anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken of my own accord; but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak, and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.
The word of the Lord is the judge of man.
How is that to be understood? Jesus explains it to us himself: When we believe in him, we hear the voice of the Father, that is, the voice of God, who, with his loving omnipotence, holds everything in his hands. In Jesus, who said the above words, we are no longer dealing only with a true prophet, who is a mouthpiece of God, but with God Himself coming in the second person of God to us.
Now when God has come into this world, then light and darkness separate, because now it becomes even clearer what God wants from us and Jesus himself reminds us of what was already said and done by the heavenly Father before his coming.
Jesus did not come into this world to judge her in the sense that he punishes her because she does not listen to him. Instead, if one does not accept his words, one exclude himself from the light and from the saving truth. But these words are spoken on behalf of the Father and demand – as is proper to the truth – that they be obeyed, because to disobey the truth means to live in error and therefore in darkness.
The consequence is that those spiritual powers exert increasing influence which have consciously closed themselves off from the light and have become messengers of darkness. It is their intention that we should not hear the word at all, that we should not open ourselves to the truth, that the word should therefore remain closed to us with its light, or in the worst case, that we even become indifferent or hostile to the word.
This makes it all the more important to receive the Word of God ourselves and to pass it on to other people. Who wants to hear the question from God why we did not put the light on “the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house” (cf. Matt 5,15)? Certainly we can do many good works for people and we are called to do so. But the proclamation of the Word of God remains the most important thing.
Let us look at the current situation of the pandemic!
Is it understood that this is a permission of God to call people to conversion? Only a few voices are speaking out in this direction! It looks as if there is something like a “general blindness” which does not perceive what the hour has struck. Even many good Catholics who strive for good hardly notice that this is a clear call from God to conversion. Do we not dare to associate such a plague with God today, except to ask that it cease! But if this happens has the lesson been understood? Does a life “after the Pandemie” simply continue as it was before?
In the Apocalypse it is written: “The fifth angel emptied his bowl over the throne of the beast and its whole empire was plunged into darkness. People were biting their tongues for pain, but instead of repenting for what they had done, they cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores.” (Rev 16,10.11)
The “kingdom of the beast” is to be understood as a power contrary to God, wherever it may manifest itself, and there are – even at present – enough examples of its existence. Seen globally, world domination can even establish itself under anti-Christian dominance.
God wants to give people the opportunity for conversion. But if the proclamation of the gospel is not accepted and man lives against the truth, then God can allow plagues – as the pandemic is one. It may differ from some of the signs mentioned above in the text of the Apocalypse – but it is nevertheless also a kind of darkness! Let us only think of the fact that the public cult of God is almost everywhere no longer taking place – just what the church considers to be the most important thing!
What is shocking about the above Bible passage is that people did not convert, but even cursed God and did not change their evil lives.
May this not happen in the pandemic, but may the call to conversion be understood and accepted. The “flock of the Lamb” should pray urgently for this conversion, carry it out more deeply for themselves and – as far as possible – proclaim the word! God will reward it!
Harpa Dei accompanies the daily scriptural interpretation or spiritual teaching of Br. Elija, their spiritual father. These meditations can be heard on the following website www.en.elijamission.net
