Saturday, March 28, 2020

John 7:40-53

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” 

Then each went to his own house.

The Gospels show the confusion of the people and their leaders as to the identity of Jesus.  They see the miracles he performs, they hear his words, but they struggle to understand what it all means.  Even the Apostles would ask each other, “Who is this, that both wind and sea obey him?” (Mark 4, 40).  The scribes and the Pharisees, witnessing the exorcisms he performs, are reduced to explaining his power by saying that he is Beelzebub.  Peter does get it right when he says to the Lord, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16, 16).  Even so, he does not seem to understand what that means, to the extent that he denies him after his arrest.  It is only with the Resurrection and with Pentecost that we see understanding among the Apostles, and true faith, as when St. Thomas declares to him, “My Lord and my God” (John 20, 28).  

We Catholics of the twenty-first century have the benefit of knowing even as children raised in the Faith that Jesus is God, that he is a divine Person who has assumed a human nature.  And yet we struggle with what this really means.  For instance, if we believe that Jesus is the Almighty God who has created us and to whom we must answer, why would don’t we fill the churches at times when he is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration?  Why do we not pray more?  Why are we not better missionaries?  Why are we not more active in parish life?  During this time of plague when we cannot go to Mass and when parishes are closed, we ought to consider more deeply the identity of Christ and our personal response to this reality.  And even now, we can go before the Lord in the tabernacle and confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance.