Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent - March 20, 2021

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Jeremiah 11:18-20 John 7:40-53

Today’s Gospel is about the question of Jesus’ identity. After hearing him speak, some people said he was one of the prophets, others said he is the Christ. The divided crowd argued about Jesus’ origin and about whether he should be arrested. When the pharisees asked why the people didn’t bring Jesus to them, the guards answered that they had never heard a man speak like him. The pharisees were convinced that Jesus was deceiving them.

This story really made me think of my faith journey through school and a conversation I had with my mom earlier this year. From a young age I was never sure who God is. I pictured God as gray clouds with light showing through. This was easier to imagine since school had taught me that God was not a being like us. As the years went on, I started to understand God more like the air around me, a force-like thing. I still wonder what God looks like or how God came to be. At this age now, I like to think of God as just being there, always present and all around us.

This year, my religion class explored how other religious traditions think about God. Later that day, my mom helped me realize that there isn’t one image for God because each one of us is unique. I think God “appears” to people in specific ways depending on their differing needs. Although God never changes, God is different for each person. 

I think our different images of God also change with each stage in life – with what we have experienced and what we have done. I think that a lot of the time, teenagers like me struggle to see how God reveals God’s Self. My experiences so far lead me to find God in nature and in the people I love. For example, I know for a fact that God was shining through my grandma up until the moment she passed away. However one answers Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel, what really matters is how you reflect him to the world. 

Q: How is Jesus present to me? Do I feel his presence on a daily basis? Do I feel it through others? Do I feel it in nature? Do I feel his presence when the Gospel is proclaimed? What would I have felt had I been present and heard Jesus’ preaching as he made his way to Jerusalem?

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