March 10, 2016 Thursday, 4th Week of Lent 1st Reading: Ex 32:7–14 Gospel: Jn 5:31–47
Jesus said to the Jews, “If I bore witness to myself, my testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to me and I know that his testimony is true when he bears witness to me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved. “John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John—the works which the Father entrusted to me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness: the Father has sent me. Thus he who bears witness to me is the Father who sent me. Then, as long as you do not believe his messenger, his word is not in you.“You search in the Scriptures thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to me. But you refuse to come to me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I have known that love of God is not within you, for I have come in my Father’s name and you do not accept me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another instead of seeking the glory coming from the only God, how can you believe? “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Although Jesus had said he did not need any human testimony, he nevertheless cited the testimony of John the Baptist for the sake of the unbelieving Jews. Still the Jews did not believe. Jesus tried the testimony of Scriptures. He said: “Yet Scripture bears witness to me.” Still, the Jews did not believe.
Today, Jesus’ identity as God is no longer in dispute. In 2005 an attempt to challenge Jesus’ divinity was initiated though Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”. But both the book and the movie versions failed to shake up people’s faith in Jesus as God. In 2007 a BBC documentary featured the alleged discovery of Jesus’ ossuary. The documentary argued that if Jesus really rose from the dead his bones should not be found anywhere. But the documentary did not sell and the controversy died a natural death.
But while we do not need any testimony to establish Jesus’ divinity because we already believe he is God, we need to deepen our spirituality so that our belief may have some impact in our lives..—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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