The Way of a Man Series | #122
1051 words / Read Time: 6.5 minutes
Sign of Contradiction (Lent-Ready)
Men’s group study guide available here.
Jesus The Sign of Contradiction: Why?
“Every male that opens the womb shall be holy unto the Lord.” (Luke 2:23; Exodus 13:2)
“He shall be a sign of contradiction to his people.” (Luke 2:34)
St. Luke applies these two statements to Jesus Christ.
He is the first-born Son of the Virgin Mary, who shall be consecrated to God the Father.
Simeon foretells that He will be a sign of contradiction to the Jews—His own people.
Why is Jesus a sign of contradiction?
Perhaps an anecdotal account can contextualize the answer to this question.
While attending college, I was living a hedonistic, self-absorbed life. My sinful behavior and narcissistic attitude were so glaring that, at one point during class, a fellow student who sat to my left said, point blank, “You are going to hell.”
With laughter and a snarky retort, I brushed his comment off.
To which he responded, “I’m serious. You are going to hell.”
Because this man was a preacher’s kid, I disregarded his comment as “religious self-righteousness” and “Christian propaganda.”
I thought that he simply did not know how to have fun and therefore was jealous of the fun I was having.
Obviously, he rubbed me—and my pride—the wrong way.
Every time I was in his presence, I interiorly recoiled.
I had a severe aversion to his “Christian self-righteousness.”
To him the Scripture could be applied:
“He is become a censurer of our thoughts. He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men, and his ways are very different.” (Wisdom 2:14–15)
It was a hardship to merely be in his presence.
His faith ground against my selfishness.
He was a sign of contradiction.
The Righteous Man’s Presence
What is it about the righteous man?
Why does his presence trigger our insecurity?
Why does his faith cause us to internally recoil from and resist him?
The short answer: because he is like Jesus.
Why did the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and the scribes resist Jesus?
Why did they think:
“He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men, and his ways are very different.” (Wisdom 2:15)
The reason for their hatred of Him is revealed plainly:
“We are esteemed as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he prefereth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his Father.” (Wisdom 2:16)
There it is.
He does not live according to the ways of man, but lives for the glory of God His Father.
The Essence of the Contradiction
What does this mean?
Jesus Christ is a perpetual, infinite torrent of self-giving love.
His essence is gift—as Pope Benedict XVI said, “a being for the other.”
Our Lord’s self-giving, which finds its fullest expression in self-sacrifice, flies in the face of His adversaries.
They cannot stand to look upon Jesus, because His presence reminds them of their selfishness, their pride, their presumptuous attitude.
They think, “He is demanding that I share my power, that I give from my resources.”
And because of this, they are compelled—albeit maliciously—to remove Him from their sight.
When one who is self-giving stands in the presence of the user, the grasper, the taker, the taker cannot help but feel convicted.
The self-giving one need not say a word.
Merely his presence convicts the prideful of his selfishness.
Why?
Because the self-giving one reminds us of what we could be—and what it demands to become that man.
The Fire of Christ: The Antithesis of Comfort
The self-sacrificial one reminds us that we are to give of ourselves—our possessions, our money, our time—for the sake of the other.
Yet we grip our money, our time, and our possessions all the harder, refusing charity’s invitation.
And by doing so, we reject the invitation to become the great man—the man of glory.
Often, Our Lord is presented as meek and mild, humble and serene.
Our Lord, however, is a fire.
His tenacious, relentless desire to offer Himself for the sake of the other is like a wildfire that consumes all dross that stands in its blazing path.
Lent and Christ’s Purifying Fire
This Lent, Our Lord stands before us as the purifying fire—ready and willing to burn away the dross of our self-absorption and our pathetic comfort-seeking.
Many will look upon Him and deem His request—that they offer themselves in return to Him—a hardship, a censure, a restraint upon their pursuit of the flesh, comfort, and worldly desires.
Remember:
“Every male that opens the womb shall be holy unto the Lord.”
The Greek word rendered holy is hagios, which literally means other or different.
You and I are called to be hagios—other, different—from worldly men who grasp and tighten their grip on what they believe is theirs, and instead give to Him from what we have received from Him.
“For what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)
Becoming a Sign of Contradiction
The question for you and me is this:
Will we submit to Christ—the Sign of Contradiction—offer ourselves in return to Him, and be purified of our selfish, self-righteous, “I owe no one anything” attitude, and thus become another sign of contradiction?
This is my desire: to be like Christ—a sign of contradiction that the worldly man sneers at and recoils from.
I hope that my presence, and yours, would convict the world of its sin (see John 16:8) and compel it to surrender itself to Christ.
Let us begin this Lent by examining what Jesus has done for us.
For He paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we cannot pay.
When we dig in and meditate—truly meditate—on what He has done and won for us, it is impossible that our gratitude not be roused.
After we have humbled ourselves in this way, with grateful hearts we make a return to Him of ourselves, as practically exemplified in our Lenten devotions and offerings.
This is the spirit and essence of Lent:
to be a thanksgiving sacrifice to the One Holy Thanksgiving Sacrifice—Jesus, the Son of God.
Supporting Resources
Men’s group study guide available here.
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Devin Schadt
Executive Director | The Fathers of St. Joseph