Persecution of Our Lord, Persecution of Tradition, Sermon by Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX

During the second half of Lent, the Church does something remarkable in the traditional liturgy: she has us read almost exclusively from the Gospel of St. John. From day 21 until the last day of Lent, there are only two Gospels that are not from St. John, outside the readings of the Passion. During that time, we read about 43% of the Gospel of St. John.It is clear that the Church wants us to focus on this Gospel in order to learn about the Passion.We know that this Gospel is unique: it was written long after the other three Gospels; it contains more words of Our Lord than any of the other Gospels; it seeks to complete what is missing in the other Gospels; it focuses especially on Our Lord’s claim to be God and His conflicts with the leaders of the Jewish religion.I thought it might be helpful for us, on this Passion Sunday, to consider three things regarding all of these passages of St. John that the Church gives us in the second half of Lent:What is Our Lord doing and what are His claims about what He is doing?What is the reaction of those who witness His actions and hear His claims?What does this mean for us today?