Fourth Monday of Lent
16 March 2026
Believing before seeing
As we move deeper into Lent, the tone of the readings continues to shift. Earlier in the season the focus was mostly on repentance and humility, on turning back to God. Now the Scriptures are about lifting our eyes toward what God is preparing. This part of Lent continues to speak to those preparing for baptism at Easter, while reminding the rest of us what our own baptism really means. Lent isn’t only about turning away from sin—it’s about learning to trust the new life God promises.
The first reading from Isaiah gives us one of the great promises of the Old Testament: “Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.” To appreciate those words, we need to remember the situation. The people of Israel are living in exile in Babylon. Their temple has been destroyed, which means their worship is not accompanied with sacrifice. Their land is gone. Everything that once defined their identity seems to have collapsed.
And into that discouraging moment God speaks not about punishment, but about renewal. “I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.” God is telling His people that their story is not ending in loss. It is moving toward something new. Mourning will give way to rejoicing. Desolation will give way to life.
This passage comes just before the words that we echoed yesterday: “Rejoice, Jerusalem.” The reason for that joy is that God is doing something new. But notice something important: the people hearing Isaiah’s promise are not yet living that reality. They are still in exile. They are still waiting. The promise is real—but they must live in faith while they wait for it to unfold.
We see that same situation in the Gospel.
A royal official comes to Jesus because his son is dying. He believes Jesus can help, so he asks Him to come and heal the child. Jesus responds in a way that sounds almost rude and arbitrary: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” But the official persists: “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
And then Jesus says something remarkable: “You may go; your son will live.”
Now the man faces a decision. He has no proof. No visible sign. Only the word of Jesus. And the Gospel tells us simply: “The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”
That is faith.
He begins the journey home trusting a promise he cannot yet see fulfilled. Along the road his servants meet him with the news that his son recovered at the very hour Jesus spoke.
Isaiah’s promise and the Gospel miracle point to the same truth: God is creating something new—but entering that newness requires faith.
This is why the Church gives us these readings at this stage of Lent. Those preparing for baptism will soon enter the waters where God begins that new life in them. And the rest of us are preparing to renew the promises of our own baptism.
Baptism is participation in the “new creation” Isaiah foretold. Through it God begins something new within us: sin is forgiven, a new identity is given, and a new life begins.
But just like the people in exile—and just like the royal official walking home—we often live in the space between the promise and its fulfillment. We believe God is renewing us, yet we still struggle. We believe grace is at work, yet we still see weakness. We believe Christ is making all things new, yet the world still feels broken.
That is where faith grows.
The royal official shows us something simple but essential: faith often begins by trusting the word of Christ enough to keep walking. He did not demand proof. He believed—and went on his way. And along the road he discovered that the promise was already becoming reality.
This is how God often works in our lives. The new creation unfolds gradually as we trust Him. Every act of forgiveness, every step away from sin, every moment of patience or mercy is part of that new world God is building within us.
Lent invites us to trust that work—even when we cannot yet see the full result.