REFLECTIONS TODAY
The three verbs in v 29, “know,” “am” (from), and “sent” all corroborate Jesus’ claim to be of divine or heavenly origin. He declares to know the Father—a knowledge which we imagine to be an intimate one just like we, children, know our parents, for we share the same home and life. He also claims he is from the Father, that is, his origin is the Father who is in heaven, and thus shares in this divine nature. And finally, he declares that the Father sent him, that is to say, the Father gave him a mission to fulfill. It was not someone else’s or even just his own mission. These underline, therefore, Jesus’ very close relationship with the Father, so that when we see Jesus or listen to him, we also see and hear the Father. And rightly so because as Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel of John, “The Father and I are one” (10:30). Do we sometimes doubt the divine origin of Jesus as some sects want us to do? Beg for the grace of a solid faith in his divinity.
Gospel • JOHN 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
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.
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.