Saturday, May 28, 2016 8th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Jude 17. 20b-25 Gospel: Mk 11:27-33
Jesus and his disciples were once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the elders came to him and asked, “What authority do you have to act like this? Who gave you authority to do the things you do?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question, only one, and if you give me an answer, then I will tell you what authority I have to act like this. Was John’s preaching and baptism a work of God, or was it merely something human? Answer me.”
And they kept arguing among themselves, “If we answer that it was a work of God, he will say: ‘Why then did you not believe him?’” But neither could they answer before the people that the baptism of John was merely something human, for everyone regarded John as a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know,” and Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you what authority I have to act as I do.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
The question the Pharisees threw at Jesus ricocheted to their peril. Jesus, knowing exactly what was in their mind, used their own trap to convict them. The question Jesus threw back at them was destructive. They couldn’t answer that John’s preaching and baptism were God’s works because such would amount to an admission of guilt for not believing in John. Neither could they answer that John’s preaching and baptism were merely human, as this would antagonize the crowd. They couldn’t afford to antagonize the crowd. The safest option was to say, “We don’t know.” When they did, they fell headlong to the trap they had intended for Jesus.
Using the power of one’s intellect to twist the truth is digging one’s own grave. God alone and not human intelligence can deliver us from all snares (Psalm 91:3). It is true that God has given us superior intellects. But it is never meant to be used against the Creator himself. Consider what happened to Adam and Eve. They thought that when God prohibited them from eating of the forbidden fruit, God was trying to pull a fast one on them. So they tried to outwit God by doing what He had prohibited. When they did, they fell headlong to the pit of destruction.
While we are the most intelligent creatures, our intellect is supposed to be exercised with the gift of faith. Setting aside the gift of faith will make us so proud that we even end up setting a trap on God. When the Pharisees did, they perished in the quagmire of their own self-proclaimed intelligence.– (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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