Friday of the 4th Week of Lent
Wis 2:1,12-22
Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30
They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.
Brothers and sisters,
Today’s gospel passage is a milestone in the plot to have Jesus killed. Jesus has continued to call out the leaders of the Sanhedrin. The growing division among the Jewish people over whether to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, makes the Jewish leaders more determined to silence him at all costs. The first step in their plot to kill him, is to arrest him.
One would think that when Jesus teaches publicly in the temple, this is the opportune time to arrest him. Yet, despite the Jewish leaders being “out to kill him”, and making efforts to arrest Jesus, their efforts remain confined to plots. At this time, “no one laid a hand on him”.
In the Singapore criminal justice system, police are empowered to arrest an individual without a warrant when the officer reasonably suspects that a serious offence has been committed. An arrest requires some cause to be shown before being effected. One of my initial thoughts when reading today’s Gospel, was how it was possible that not one of the Jews who were out to kill Jesus decided to arrest him while he was publicly teaching? Could it be that the Jewish leaders knew they could not successfully arrest him because they had no sufficient cause for an arrest at that time? Though tt was part of their plan, they knew would be procedurally improper to arrest Jesus at that juncture?
However, we as disciples of Christ, know that there was never any good cause to arrest Jesus. He only spoke the truth. He is the Messiah.
This led me to reflect more on how God used the plot to kill Jesus, to execute His divine plan which followed His timing. Even when the plot to kill Jesus superficially appears to be the plan of the Jewish leaders, it really is God’s plan. It was part of God’s plan that Jesus would eventually be arrested and handed over to be crucified, but not yet. No one was able to lay even a finger on Jesus because he was on God’s divine schedule, and “his time had not yet come”. And throughout this divine schedule of his earthly life, Jesus enjoyed God’s favour and trusted in His protection.
May we be encouraged by this passage that as children of God and as followers of Christ, each of us — like Jesus, has an appointed time — when we fulfill our unique purpose here on earth and return to our Creator. For Jesus, that time came when he was in his early thirties. Let us pray that before our appointed time, we boldly live out God’s teachings. And should we ever fear that others are plotting against us, may we remember that God’s plan for each of us, in accordance with His time, always triumphs over any superficial human plans.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Stacey Fernandez)
Prayer: Lord, I pray to trust in your plan for my life and that everything will happen in your perfect timing. Your kingdom come, your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Thanksgiving: God, I thank you for protecting me and granting me strength to live out my purpose here on earth until Your appointed time for me.
OXYGEN 
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