The WORD in Other Words by Fr Paulino Belamide SVD (Philippines)
Friday 4th Week of Lent
Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22 Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
“You know me and also know where I am from,” said Jesus to his audience in the temple. But did they really know him? They thought they did (John 7:27), alleging that they knew where he was from.
In fact, they did not know him at all. They tried to arrest him. They were trying to kill him! Not knowing Jesus can be on account of one‘s willful ignorance — the deliberate, conscious rejection of Jesus because of the counter—reality that he represents, the threat that he is to the self-centered way of life which worldly people prefer.
Plato is supposed to have said: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
Do you know Jesus? More to the point is, do you want to know Jesus? Because to truly want to know Jesus is to be ready and willing to abandon oneself and live for others. To truly know Jesus is to be transformed, by loving as he loved and serving as he served.
For many of us, the situation is very much like that of the rich young man, conflicted between the attractive offer of Jesus and our self-serving attachments to the things and values of this world. That is why to truly know Jesus is to walk with him the way of the Cross.
May the heart of Jesus live in our hearts and in the hearts of all.
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