REFLECTIONS TODAY

Who is Jesus? This question that we ask to this day was the same question that the people were asking when they heard Jesus speak. 

Some may have sincerely asked to be certain whether he was truly the Messiah. Their honest queries were valid because they have sought the Messiah for centuries. 

However, they had their biases and expectations. They were on the correct path, for they knew where the Messiah would come from. But their mistake could be the lack of knowledge about Jesus himself. 

Were they sure that Jesus did not come from Bethlehem and did not descend from David? 

They did not dig further and they were satisfied by a negation— simply because they did not like Jesus. Yet here we find Nicodemus who honestly seeks the truth and believes in Jesus. He asks a very sensible question, and he is criticized, ad hominem, as others who are bashed when they speak the truth. We see him at the end of John’s Gospel: one who would be part of Jesus’ inner circle (19:39). May our loving quest for who Jesus is move us to know and love him more. With the eyes of faith we ask: Who is Jesus?

Gospel • 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.

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.