Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Friday of the fourth week of Lent, March 20th, 2026

Delivered by Johana from the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral, in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Wisdom 2: 1a.12-22; Rs psalm 34: 17-18.19-20.21.23; Yohanes 7: 1-2.10.25-30.HIS TIME DOES NOT YET COME The title for our meditation today is: His Time DoesNot Yet Come. Soon we will celebrate the holy week. It's about two weeks fromnow. The passion and death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate experience of Hissuffering. In anticipating this great celebration, we encounter the days thatprecede, including today, filled with various difficulties befalling on Jesus.The threats were truly real, direct, and certain for Him. He was on the vergeof persecution. Long before the real experience of Jesus Christ, thebook of Wisdom already described such persecution which was eventuallyrealized in Jesus Christ. He said: “Come, we try him with persecution andtorture, so that we know the gentleness and patience of his heart. Let uscondemn him to death, because according to him he must have received help” (Wis2, 19-20). The Gospel of John that we have just heard reaffirms the describedpersecution by saying: “The Pharisees tried to arrest Jesus but no one touchedHim, because His time had not yet come” (Jn 7.30). His time had not yet come because it should haddepended entirely on the Father's Will. Holy Thursday night and Good Friday hadnot yet arrived. All of us and everyone are subject to this particular timelimit. All of us must respect the important aspects to be happened in this timeof the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the waves of anger, jealousy, hatred, andviolence from His opponents seemed unchallenged, they were obliged to restrain.Even though man's will is very strong, God has the power to determine the timefor His Will to happen. What does it mean the imminent persecution of JesusChrist? First, we interpret it with our response "Amen". We acceptthis reality and believe it as a way of fulfilling the Father's will on thepart of Jesus, and as the content of our faith. In the prayer of "IBelieve" we express our faith by saying in this way: He who suffered underthe Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. We agree and acceptthis evil treatment towards Jesus which means we also accept the Lord's teachingand invitation to follow Him in every moment of suffering that we face in ourlives. We also interpret it as our act of faith, which meanswithout fear and doubt we continue to maintain the truth and wisdom in ourfaith responsibility to take part in God's work. Usually, the temptation forthose who are in a situation of suffering and persecution is fear andeventually surrender to the influence of the tempter. This is what an authenticfollower of Christ should not do. In an imminent trial or persecution we dohave courage to cry out: our courage and willingness to face is only for the sakeof our participation in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O merciful Father in heaven, strengthen usalways especially when we are in the midst of suffering and persecution, sothat we may remain always in Your way. Our Father who art in heaven... In thename of the Father ...