SATURDAY IN THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT READINGS AND REFLECTION:
WHO IS JESUS TO YOU?
(Jn 7:40–53).
SATURDAY IN THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT
MASS READINGS
1st Reading Jer 11:18-20
Psalms 7:2-3, 9BC-10, 11-12
Verse Before the Gospel Luke 8:15
Gospel John 7:40-53
READING I
Jer 11:18–20
I knew their plot because the Lord informed me; at that time you, O Lord, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.”
But, you, O Lord of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. . O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
Lest I become like the lion’s prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O Lord, because I am just,
and because of the innocence that is mine.
Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
God loved the world so much, he gave us his only Son, that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
GOSPEL
Jn 7:40–53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
GOSPEL REFLECTION
Jesus is the sign of contradiction in the world. He divides men and their opinions with his Person. He, the Son of God, obliges us to define our position with regard to His person:”Who is Jesus to you?” The Persecuted, in the humble appearance of a Galilean, is the Lord of destiny, and the destiny of all.
“Who is Jesus to you?” May we also profess our faith like Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And may our confession be shown in our way of life, for being a Christian requires us to a radical following of and identification with Christ.
Stay safe and God bless! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
COMMENTARY FROM THE NAVARRE BIBLE, ST. JOHN (with permission)
- 40-43 “The prophet” refers to Deut 18:18, which predicts the coming of a prophet during the last times, a prophet to whom all must listen (cf. Jn 1:2 1; 6:14); and “the Christ” (“the Messiah”) was the title most used in the Old Testament to designate the future Saviour whom God would send.
- This passage shows us, once again, the range of people’s attitudes towards Jesus. Many Jews — not taking the trouble to check — did not know that he had been born in Bethlehem, the city of David, where Micah (5:2) says the Lord will be born. It was their own fault that they used this ignorance as an excuse for not accepting Christ.
- Others, however, realized from his miracles that he must be the Messiah.
- The same pattern obtains throughout history: some people see him simply as an extraordinary man, not wanting to admit that his greatness comes precisely from the fact that he is the Son of God.
- 46 The truth begins to influence the straightforward souls of the servants of the Sanhedrin but it cannot make headway against the obstinacy of the Pharisees.
- “Notice that the Pharisees and scribes derive no benefit either from witnessing miracles or reading the Scriptures; whereas their servants, without these helps, were captivated by a single discourse, and those who set out to arrest Jesus went back under the influence of his authority. And they did not say, ‘We cannot arrest him, the people will not let us’; instead they extolled Christ’s wisdom. Not only is their prudence admirable, for they did not need signs; it is also impressive that they were won over by his teaching on its own; they did not say, in effect, ‘No man has ever worked such miracles,’ but ‘No man ever spoke like this man.’ Their conviction also is worthy of admiration: they go to the Pharisees, who were opposed to Christ, and address them in the way they do” (St John Chrysostom, Horn, on St John, 9).
VIDEO REFLECTION TO FOLLOW:
TOPIC: DO YOU HAVE PREJUDICES THAT LEAD YOU TO SIN?
Prejudice is a disease of the mind that affects the heart. Prejudice is, literally, a pre-formed opinion, usually unfavorable, based on insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings or inaccurate stereotypes. (Warren Lamb)
In today’s gospel reading, we continue from yesterday’s passages that depict the confusion of the Jews on the real identity of Jesus. The Pharisees have ordered the arrest of Jesus on the basis of His insistent claims that are not in accordance with their pre-set notion that the Messiah being promised in Scriptures should not come from Galilee, where Nazareth is, and where Joseph, Mary and Jesus have settled after coming back from Egypt. He should come from Bethlehem, which was actually Jesus’ birthplace, but which the angry Jews did not know. In addition, they all thought that Jesus did not come from the line of David. Which He did.Let us reflect today, Brothers and Sisters, on our own short-sightedness, on our own biases and prejudices against people, against new ideas being brought to us, and worst of all, against Jesus.
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