Saturday, June 2, 2018 8th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Jude 17. 20-25 Gospel: Mark 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 that Jesus asked in today’s Gospel reading triggered in the Pharisees two kinds of fear: fear of the truth and fear for social pressure. Because they were afraid of the truth they kept arguing among themselves, “If we answer that (John’s baptism) was a work of God, he will say: ‘Why then did you not believe him?’” The safest answer would have been that John’s baptism was merely something human. But they couldn’t answer in this manner either. They were afraid of the people who regarded John as a prophet. This was their second fear, the fear for social pressure.
In our life experience we too have in one way or another succumbed to fear of the truth and fear for adverse public opinion. Despite our familiarity with the maxim, “the truth will set you free”, there are lots of truths in our life that we ignore. We ignore them because they expose our vulnerabilities and we feel safer living the big lie. Let’s begin with our real age and see how many of us are really free to tell.
We are also afraid of social pressure. Consider what happened in the recent elections. Every electoral process is a game where social pressure determines the winner. The greater majority behind this formidable social pressure in our country is vulnerable to election engineering. Because of this the electoral process is at great risk of becoming a machinery of grand deception.
The single trap the Pharisees laid before Jesus backfired twice and the Pharisees cringed in fear. No matter how shrewd, one is never secure if he does not live in the truth. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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