Gospel Reflection For The 22nd day of March in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
John 10:31-42
31 The Jews then took up stones to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, maketh thyself God. 34 Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. 39 They sought therefore to take him; and he escaped out of their hands. 40 And he went again beyond the Jordan, into that place where John was baptizing first; and there he abode.
41 And many resorted to him, and they said: John indeed did no sign. 42 But all things whatsoever John said of this man, were true. And many believed in him.
Following on yesterday’s Gospel, we begin to understand the predicament of the Jewish officials. They had “hardened their hearts,” they would not admit Jesus to be God. If He was not God, He had to be executed for blasphemy under the Law. Like Pontius Pilot, they would “wash their hands” of their guilt and claim to be just following the Law. How often do we see this in our day, when otherwise innocent and well meaning people fall afoul of the letter of the Law and receive punishment but not justice or mercy?
Here was Jesus, healing the sick, restoring sight to the bling, causing the lame to walk and giving hope to all beyond anything before imagined. Surely, they knew He was a good man. Surely they knew He was a prophet. Surely they recognized that He had all the powers and signs of the Messiah. Yet, they had no mercy. They did not have the love that God desired. They had only the Law and Jesus came to fulfil the Law by taking upon Himself the penalty for all sin.
Today’s first reading from Jeremiah foretells this:
I hear the whisperings of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.”
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!
No man could do this. Only God could. Only God could suffer for all of mankind for all time and redeem all who were, are now and will be. That redemption is ours, the promise of God and a covenant sealed with His blood... but takes two to agree to a contract. We have to fulfill our end of the agreement. And, part of that is to suffer with our Lord. How many times have people plotted against us, hated us, abused and rejected us unjustly just as described by Jeremiah? The closer we draw to God, the more we become like our Lord. The more we are like Christ, the more the enemy will oppose us. The world offers us pleasure and happiness. Jesus does not offer us happiness or riches (etc) in this life. But, He promises eternal joy. Our earthly lives are but an instant, a blink, compared to eternity. Let us pray that we may have the fortitude and the faith to keep that in mind and reach our eternal reward.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.