How do we as ordinary people defend Jesus in our lives? Today’s Gospel showcases a variety of people in Jesus’s time – those who used intellect to deny Jesus as Son of God and those who faithfully believed in Him.

The Jews who “picked up rocks to stone Jesus” refused to open up their hearts and minds to see Christ. Many attacked Jesus; many went out of their ways to deny the power of Jesus. His time had not yet come – He would soon die for our sins – and a large crowd was already forming to sow seeds of doubt and disbelief in people’s minds.

Sometimes, although we may not think of ourselves as lacking in faith, we forget that our faith and our God need to be defended vigorously. In addition to sharing our values and our religion in our daily lives, we are also “spokespeople” in a way for our beliefs. To non-Catholics, we can sometimes be propped up as representatives for the Church. When we sin, when we selfishly hurt others, others may question why exactly we are Catholics when we do not act in the generously selfless way of Jesus Christ. To these inquiries, I often respond – I’m not perfect! Catholics are not sinless. In fact, we are far from it.

Indeed, none of us need to pretend to be sinless just because we are Catholic, and we often fall short of the perfection expected from us – be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Of course, we have our own faith journeys, filled with mistakes and human sin and carrying of extremely heavy crosses. So how do we defend our faith when we ourselves cannot be perfectly Christ-like?

This Lenten season, I have been reflecting a lot on how I can embody the Christian spirit in my life. In order to defend our God, we have to first aim to evoke the generous love of Jesus in our darkest times. More than just praying or asking God for forgiveness when we sin, we must acknowledge that God acts within us. We must viscerally feel as if the love, the peace, the joy that characterize our faith flow through our veins, and inform our every action. Then, when we fall short and sin, we know that our lapse in judgment or imperfections are bumps in the road, and that they do not characterize our being. 

Even when attacked (by stones, in Jesus’s case, not so much for me!), I have to remember that I have been blessed with the knowledge of the truth, the way, and the life – and we should aspire to act in Jesus’s name. As ordinary people, blessed with the love of God, we defend our faith when we embody our Christian values to the best of our ability, when we are the face of Christ to others.

As St. Paul says to the Galatians, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20).