***
Imagine you’re driving in a terrible storm.
Turning on your radio, the meteorologist tells you a tornado is headed your way. If you don’t turn around, you’ll run right into it.
Turn around or die.
I’m sure all of us would turn around. It’s the easiest decision we’d ever make.
Jesus, on the other hand, runs right into it.
***
In the Gospel, he’s under intense pressure from the religious authorities. They’ve been trying to silence him for some time but have finally had enough.
He’s crossed the line. He’s claimed he’s God.
That’s blasphemy, an offense punishable by death. No one is God but God alone. As the authorities say to him today, “You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Blasphemy!
Knowing his words will cost him his life, Jesus looks at them and says, “I AM.”
He forces them – and all of us – to decide: Is he a lunatic or is he Lord?
There’s no middle ground.
***
To back up his claims, Jesus performs incredible works of mercy.
No one other than God could bring sight to the blind, healing to lepers, or Lazarus back from the dead.
The proof is in the pudding. “If you do not believe me,” he says, “believe the works.”
***
Jesus is so certain of his identity that he runs right into the middle of the storm. Surrounded by men with stones, he says to them, “I AM.”
***
Lent is the time for us to join Jesus in the storm.
Although we’re not being threatened with death, how often do our instincts pressure us to shelve our identity?
In this Coronavirus crisis, for example, we’re all tempted to panic buy, to hoard, to be selfishly afraid.
Jesus, on the other hand, challenges us to be generous.
Even in ordinary times, we’re tempted to cling to grudges, to nurse a favorite sin, to puff up our ego.
But, again, Jesus says to us, “The greatest among you must be your servant.”
***
Although our instincts may tell us to panic, to turn around, to save ourselves, Jesus reminds us that Christians put others first; they run right into the storm.
It’s there we’ll find our Lord.