REFLECTIONS TODAY
Today’s Gospel emphasizes Jesus’ identity and mission. The Gospel of John tells of the divine identity of Jesus by highlighting his divine origin. In the beginning, Jesus is the Logos of God, eternally with God and moving toward God (1:1-2).
Jesus is of divine origin. He is the only begotten Son of God (1:17; 3:16). He is also the Revealer who shows God as a loving Father (1:12; 20:17). Jesus’ mission as the Revealer of the Father is inseparable from Jesus’ identity as coming from God. He knows the Father, and he has made the Father known to his disciples. Let us reflect on our own identity as God’s children and on our mission as Jesus’ disciples.
Once we are able to recognize that we ourselves came from God, we will also share in Jesus’ mission in making God known in our world today. Do we recognize our divine origin?
How aware are we of our identity as God’s children? How do we fulfill our mission of making God known?
First Reading • Wis 2:1a, 12-22
The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways. He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just/ and boasts that God is his Father.
Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.” These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.
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 2025.” E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.