Gospel reading: Jn 7:1-2
Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.
REFLECTIONS
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me
Seeing Jesus in Jerusalem speaking openly, people wonder whether the authorities have already accepted Jesus as the Christ. But then they remember that when the Messiah comes, nobody is supposed to know where he is from. Instead, they know where Jesus comes from!
In his preaching Jesus thus challenges them on what they know. Yes, they know him and where he comes from, but they do not know the Father who sent him, while Jesus knows the Father. This is the constant assertion of Jesus in the Gospel of John: that he comes from the Father or that the Father has sent him. This – who sent him – they ought also to know, not just the common knowledge of the place where he hails from.
In a sense, we cannot blame the people for failing to comprehend who Jesus is. We often judge people by what we know of them: their family background, their origin, their social status, etc. What Jesus reveals to them is something foreign to them, and yet this is the profound truth of who Jesus is.
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Do we judge people simply on the basis of their curriculum vitae?
Or do we strive to know the deeper truths about them?
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
