Haters Gonna Hate

Readings: Jer 20:10-13; Jn 10:31-42

As we close in on Easter, you may start to feel the tension rising in the narrative.  The net is tightening on Jesus.

Jeremiah the prophet speaks about how people are looking for opportunities to denounce him – including former friends and trusted people.  All he is trying to do is help to liberate people, and he gets so much criticism coming back his way.

Then in the gospel, people are picking up literal stones to throw at Jesus.

What is interesting is that Jesus exposes the situation that he’s being put in.  He says, basically, that we are to judge the works he does.  If they are NOT God’s work, then he’s fake news.  But if his works are, in fact, the works of God (healing the sick, freeing the oppressed giving sight to the blind and all of the works proclaimed in Isaiah 42), then the people have a serious dilemma.  They don’t even need to believe in him, they just need to judge his works.

He goes on to say that he is in God and that God is in him.  That’s why he can do what he does.

What does it mean to you to be “in God” and have “God in us”?  What are practices that help us remain in God so that we can draw upon that power to heal the world?

These are challenging questions that we need to keep returning to over and over.

I would highlight two things from today’s readings that surface for me:

First, there will always be people trying to tear down people who are trying to do good.  We can ask, “Why?” but it is a phenomenon that has been going on for a long time.  As they say, “haters gonna hate.”  If we’re in one of those situations right now, sometimes we just have to endure what people are saying and stay true to what we know. And correspondingly, when you judge or react to people, pause and check yourself…

Second, to the degree that we can remain in God, we can draw power to act in the world.  This requires us to be present and cultivate a deep mindfulness – not necessarily piety and the appearance of holiness.  The Pharisees were pious but they had no true power.  Jesus did not live by the piety codes and yet he taught with authority and was able to heal.   Our job as the followers of Jesus is to keep studying the power that Jesus tapped into and to find ways that we can do the same – individually and collectively.

For today, don’t get too caught up in people who do not approve of you or are critical of what you are doing. Focus on your works.  Do works that align with God’s mission on earth.  Cultivate presence.  Practice mindfulness.