Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent, April 1, 2022

John 7, 1-2, 10; 25-30

Jesus moved about within Galilee; 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.

This second pilgrimage of the Lord to Jerusalem during his Public Life, which begins here, is momentous for his freeing the woman caught in adultery, his claiming that “Before Abraham came to be, I am”, and his healing of the man born blind.  In his preaching, the Lord continues and elaborates on themes he spoke on in chapter 5.  If we step back from our awe of his words and actions here, we note that he does not act like the Messiah many of his followers expect him to be.  He does not try to build alliances with the leaders on Jerusalem, nor he does not seek the admiration of the crowds.  He does nothing to further a political or military movement.  In fact, he goes out of his way to denounce the leaders there and to antagonize not only the people of Jerusalem but his own disciples.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem have seen few of his miracles since the Lord only came there a few times a year for Passover and did not stay long, but they have heard of his reputation.  When they saw him preaching in the Temple during the feast, they questioned among themselves: “Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?”  The authorities have not acted openly against him, so this led to them wondering if they acquiesced to his preaching.  As we know, to this point the Jewish leadership wanted to arrest and even kill him, but were afraid to do anything which might cause a riot or uprising.  They knew their own restive people well.  Forty years later, even with the Romans pouring into Jerusalem during the siege, Jewish groups were fighting each other.  

“But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”  These Jews are murmuring to each other while listening to the Lord preach.  What they say here interests us because the Pharisees interfered Micah 5, 2: “And you Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Judah, out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity”, as explaining the origin of the Messiah.  These Jews seem ignorant of this.  We see that there was variance in the expectations for the Messiah.  “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.”  The Lord explains how it is possible both ideas might be true, that they might know where he is from and that they might not.  He speaks of having been sent.  In fact, they did not know who sent him: “whom you do not know”.  But Jesus knew who sent him: “I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”  It is a remarkable way of speaking.  Who among us could seriously talk of having been “sent” into the world?  In this way the Lord teaches concerning his pre-existence with the Father and also that he was given a mission by him.  One is not “sent” somewhere without purpose.  

The Son was sent into the world in order to save us from sin, and he did not spare himself in accomplishing this.  He then sent the Apostles into the far regions of the world to teach this to the human race and to assist their salvation through the sacraments.  You and I are likewise sent to live out the Gospel and to assist in our own way in the salvation of the world.