Gentle Sheep to the slaughter by Maggor-Missabib and the Ultimate Paschal Lamb of Pesach: Jeremiah and Jesus Parallel – Friday of the 5th Week of Lent (A)

Today’s first reading (Jeremiah 20:10-13) is drawn from one of prophet Jeremiah’s six confessions: Jeremiah 11:18-23; 12:1-4; 15:10-21; 17:12-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18. Last Saturday’s (Saturday of the 4^th week of Lent) first reading (Jeremiah 11:18-20) is an excerpt from Jeremiah’s 1st^h confession, while today’s first reading (Jeremiah 20:10-13) is from his 6^th confession.

As with the case of any prophet, Jeremiah’s life was extremely difficult as he was persecuted by his own people for speaking on behalf of God for his people’s best interest according to God’s will. Why his folks had to attack Jeremiah for speaking God’s message for them? It was because they did not want to hear what God had to say for them. They wanted to shut the voice of God. So, they had to shut Jeremiah, God’s spokes-person, up. It also shows that their hearts were no longer with God as their faith

Being persecuted for speaking on behalf of God..who else, besides Jeremiah and other prophets?

Gospel readings from John throughout last week (4^th week of Lent) and this week (5^th week of Lent), including today’s Gospel reading (John 10:31-42), describe how Jesus had to deal with the religious leaders who wished to arrest and kill Jesus. Since Jesus healed a paralyzed man by the pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath day (John 5:1-16, read on Tuesday of the 4^th week of Lent), the evil intent to persecute Jesus began to manifest and grow progressively, as you can see through Johannine Gospel readings from 7 on throughout the 4^th and the week of Lent, leading to Holy Week.

Once again, today’s Scripture readings (Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42) make a parallel between prophet Jeremiah and Jesus, as in last Saturday’s (Saturday of the 4^th week of Lent) readings (Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 7:40-53).

In his first confession (Jeremiah 11:18-23), Jeremiah felt he was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter (v. 19), as read on last Saturday (Saturday of the 4^th week of Lent). Now, in his last (6^th) confession (Jeremiah 20:7-18), he was frightened to have terror on every side, because he felt that all of his friends were waiting for him to slip as he would be probably deceived, in his enemies’ revenge against him for speaking on behalf of God (v.10).

Terror on every side (Jeremiah 20:10) – Jeremiah must have felt that he was trapped by his enemy.  No wonder that he had felt like being a gentle lamb led to the slaughter (Jeremiah 11:19). And, perhaps, this is how Jesus had felt as his prolonging argument with the religious leaders who wanted to kill him went on all the way to the day he died on the Cross as the paschal lamb slaughtered for Pesach (Passover). And, the only way to deliver those who were with Jesus from the evil grips of the “terror on every side”(Maggor-Missabib)(Jeremiah 20:10, cf. 6:25; 20:3) was that he himself become the paschal gentle lamb led to the slaughter (cf Jeremiah 11:18) as the suffering Messiah, as prophesized in Isaiah 52;13-53:12. Otherwise, those who began to believe in Jesus would have been locked down by the evil hands of the “terror on every side”, as reflected in Jeremiah 6. In fact, Jeremiah called one of his persecutors, corrupt priest, Pashhur, “Maggor-Missabib”(Jeremiah 20:3), which means “terror on every side”.

Those who persecuted Jesus also include priests. In Jerusalem, Jesus was surrounded by “Maggor-Missabib”.  But, Jesus was not timid at all. See how he deals with some of his “Maggor-Missabib” , as they tried to stone him, again, in today’s Gospel reading (John 10:31-42).

After his Good Shepherd Discourse (John 10:1-21),  following his healing of a man born blind and agitating his persecutors for this sign (John 9), they surrounded him to stone him for blasphemy, violation of Exodus 22:28.  To this “Maggor-Missabib” , Jesus responded by citing from Psalm 82:6, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, “You are gods?”(John 10:34).

Why did Jesus cite  Psalm 82:6? It is because Psalm 82 is about judges, who lost their integrity to the Law. According to the Law, judges were trusted and appointed by God to act on behalf of Him to deliver fair and just judgements (Deuteronomy 1:17; 16:18, cf. 2 Chronicles 19:6), and this is reflected in Psalm 82:1-4. That is why leaders of Israel, such as judges could be called “gods”, representing God (Psalm 82:1). However, God knew these judges became corrupted but continued to considered themselves as “gods”(Psalm 82:5-6). By citing Psalm 82:6, Jesus wanted his persecutors to realize that they were just like the corrupt judges rebuked by God in Psalm 82.

To Jesus, it is rather a blasphemy to call themselves as “gods” just because they were judges or other leaders but they fail to perform what God expects them as His appointed representatives. He threw a powerful punch on his persecutors with this message of God’s denunciation on them by citing Psalm 82:6. On the other hand, he also wanted to them that his words and actions, as well as, the truth that Jesus he shown in his signs, were the words and deeds of the ultimate judge of divine appointment.  That is why Jesus is, indeed, the Son of God (John 10:36), above all “gods”, judges and other leaders of Israel (Psalm 82:1, 6).

Jesus was defending his ministry and his position in the world against persecutor and their charge against him, blasphemy, while rebuking them as leaders who let their souls drifted from God and His Law, by citing Psalm 82:6 (John 10:34-36). And Jesus also reminded them, in his defense, that his works (his teachings and signs) will validate his Christological position in the world as the Son of God above all “gods”, as he is in the Father as He is in him, even though they might never believe in him (John 10:37-38). However, their eyes never opened to the truth in Jesus’ statement in John 10:34-38. Even Jesus reminded them that he is in God the Father, and He is in him (John 10:38) , as Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30), they still could not see the truth.  So, they tried to arrest him, but Jesus escaped  (John 10:39), as it was not the divinely appointed time for him to be the “gentle paschal lamb” to be slaughtered.

It is also noteworthy that Jesus slipped out of the evil hands of  his “Maggor-Missabib” to a place where there were many people who believed in him, remembering what John the Baptist said about him (John 10:40-42). Besides that it was not the time for Jesus to die as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) yet, though it was nearing, it was a sign of hope beyond Jesus’ impending death by the hands of  Maggor-Missabib.  Those who came to believe in Jesus, though still in a small number, would join with the disciples to be in the light of Christ, while those stubbornly constituted Maggor-Missabib remained in the darkness of sin. The former would constitute the Church after Pentecost, as they also remember John the Baptist, who said, “Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘after me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me’. I myself did  not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel. I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29-34).

Though John the Baptist never performed a miraculous sign himself, everything John had said about Jesus was true, as those who came to believe in Jesus said (John 10:41-42).  John the Baptist also said of Jesus as one more powerful them him to come after him to baptize with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11//Mark 1:7-8). Indeed, not only powerful Jesus came after John the Baptizer to baptize with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, Jesus performed many signs that John the Baptist did not. In John’s Gospel, there are seven major ones (known as the Seven Signs of Jesus): I, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (2:1-11); II. the healing of son of royal official in Cana (John 4:46-54); III. the healing of the infirmed man by the Bethesda pool (5:1-18); IV. the feeding of the great multitudes out of the five loaves of bread and two fish (6:1-15); V. the walking on the water of Sea of Galilee (6:16-21); VI. the healing of the man born blind (9:1-41); VII. the raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1-44).  The Johannine narratives of 4 of these 7 signs are found in the Lenten Gospel readings: John 4:43-54 on Monday of the 4^th week of Lent; John 5:1-16 on Tuesday of the 4^th week of Lent; John 9:1-41 on the 4^th Sunday of Lent; John 11:1-45 on the 5^th Sunday of Lent. Except for the sign in John 4:43-54, all the rest of the signs in the Lenten Gospel readings took place in Jerusalem, where Jesus was persecuted because of these signs and what he explained about the signs he performed, as you notice from the flow of the Lenten Gospel readings in the 4^th and 5^th weeks of Lent to prepare us for the Holy Week.

Prophet Jeremiah was persecuted because he spoke against sinful corrupt religious leaders , who ruined King Josiah’s reform to bring Judah back to God, and was made to feel of himself like a gentle lamb to the slaughter (Jeremiah 11:19) as they surrounded him as terror on every side (Maggor-Missabib)(Jeremiah 20:10) . As his argument with the religious leaders, who were ignorant of the Christological truth in him, because they had lost their souls for God and His Law, prolonged toward his execution by them, Jesus, the Son of God (John 10:36), above all gods (John 10:34 cf. Psalm 82:1,6), were surrounded by terror on every side (Maggor-Missabib) and might have felt like a gentle lamb to the slaughter, remembering Jeremiah. In fact, Jesus was killed as the paschal lamb of the ultimate Pesach (Passover) (cf John 19:42; Exodus 12:6) to deliver us from the hands of evil, like those who stubbornly refused to believe in him and killed him. This was meant for Jesus, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), as the slaughtered paschal lamb, gushing the blood to save us (cf. John 19:34; Exodus 12:13, 299 – Diary of St. Faustina  cf.  Exodus 22:8; Matthew 26:28//Mark 14:24//Luke 22;20  cf John 6:53).