Encounters With Jesus – Lenten Reflection by Jon Tolberd

Encounters with Jesus normally left the person who went to Jesus somewhat confounded, and I often wonder what the adulteress felt and thought of when she was standing in front of Jesus waiting for those stones to hit her. I am sure there were a lot of shame and guilt, as well as emotional and spiritual pain, which comes with being vulnerable in front of the person, who loves you the most. Slowly as the Pharisees left, it had to have escalated. The silence must have felt like it went on forever. One second ticked by, then a minute, then finally it was just her and Jesus. He looked at her. The look of Gentleness and Love that Jesus gave her cut her to the quick. It touched her right in the most personal part of herself, her sin. Jesus meets all of us in that most personal intimate part. He is always seeking a relationship with us. All he wishes for is our love in exchange for His Love, ourselves in exchange for His Self. Yet we flee from that gaze, unwilling to be seen by those eyes that see all that we are. Even so, in this time of Lent, He is saying, “Run to me as I run to you. Let Me Love you.”

Jon Tolberd is a junior at Conception Seminary College, studying for the Diocese of Wichita in Kansas.