April 11, 2014
Friday, 5th Week of Lent
St. Stanislaus 1st
Reading: Jer 20:10–13
Gospel: Jn 10:31–42
The Jews picked up stones to throw at Jesus; so he said, “I have openly done many good works among you which the Father gave me to do. For which of these do you stone me?”
The Jews answered, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for insulting God; you are only a man and you make yourself God.”
Then Jesus replied, “Is this not written in your Law: I said: you are gods? So those who received this word of God were called gods and the Scripture is always true. Then what should be said of the one anointed and sent into the world by the Father? Am I insulting God when I say: ‘I am the Son of God’?
“If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, even if you have no faith in me, believe because of the works I do, and know that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”
Again they tried to arrest him, but Jesus escaped from their hands. He went away again to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John had baptized, and there he stayed. (…)
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
It was at the Temple area where the Jews pressured Jesus for a categorical statement about his identity (John 10:24-25). Jesus said in reply: “I have told you but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are my witnesses, but you do not believe…” (John 10: 26-30). The Jews had reasons to feel insulted for being pictured as too dull to understand what Jesus had already told them many times in plain language. For this they wanted to kill him.
Jesus used active-non-violent means to escape from the snares of his enemies. In today’s Gospel reading, for example, he used logic to subdue his malefactors. He said, “I have openly done many good works among you… For which of these do you stone me?”
Using the art of argumentation Jesus pinned the Jews into recognizing his mighty works. They said, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for insulting God; you are only a man and you make yourself God.”
This was tantamount to acknowledging Jesus’ good works and indirectly admitting the evidences backing up Jesus’ claim.
Still they ignored logic and continued to seek the destruction of Jesus. No sheep belonging to Jesus’ flock could have been as stubborn. Jesus was right when he said: “You do not believe because you are no sheep of mine. The sheep that belongs to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me” (John 10:26-28).
As we go through this season of Lent, let us ask for the gift of faith so that we may not persist in our unbelief. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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