The just will always be persecuted, but great is their reward

Today's readings remind us that the just are persecuted within their own communities, and vindicated by God. The New Testament word for justice, dikiaosoune, is translated as both righteousness and justice. St. Paul tells us that our righteousness before God comes from Christ's righteousness: “God made him [Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness [dikaiosoune] of God.” (2Cor 5:21) We live a truly just or righteous life by surrendering ourselves in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ and committing ourselves to living His Gospel.

The first reading (Wis 2:1a,12-22) reminds us that persecution awaits those who seek the righteousness of God's Kingdom. They are tested by peers and even by their families. They are slandered, misunderstood, resented, because their ways shed light on the poor choices of others:

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings,
...He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.”

This reading continues, prophesying the persecution that Jesus the Righteous One would endure to make us righteous in Him before the Father:

He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father.
Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”
These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.

By our Baptism, we share in the Risen Jesus' “recompense of holiness” and His “innocent soul['s] reward.”

Psalm 34 also prophesies about Jesus, the persecuted Righteous One. It tells us that God hears the cries of the just in their distress, “is close to the brokenhearted,” and “redeems the lives of His servants.” David proclaims that God “watches over all [the just one's] bones; not one of them shall be broken.” Whether David knew it or not, this is a direct reference to the Passover lamb – prepared without breaking any of its bones; it foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, none of Whose bones would be broken. (Jn 19:36)

Today's Gospel (Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30) tells us that Jesus “did not wish to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him.” As the Feast of Tabernacles approaches, He travels “in secret” to Jerusalem, and despite efforts to arrest Him, “no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.” The Father preserved Jesus, because it was not yet time for Him to be crucified. Everything was and is in the Father's control. Like Jesus, we can trust the Father's plan for our lives. His grace is there to get us through every kind of persecution and deliver us with the “recompense of [Christ's] holiness” and Christ's “innocent soul['s] reward.”

My God, I surrender my life to Your good and loving plan. Use me in accordance with Your will as Jesus' disciple. Grant me the wisdom to discern when to speak and when to remain silent, when to act and when to be still. Keep me true to Christ's Gospel, for in Him alone is my righteousness before You. I make this prayer to You in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Link to readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040122.cfm