Gospel: John 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.
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Reflection:
What happens when we
engage in useless self-centered debates? The protagonist will try very hard to
upstage each other, and then it will turn ugly by trying to destroy each
other’s reputation. No worthy outcome comes out of it, only mudslinging and
character assassination.
The crowd were
debating about Jesus’ origin that it created division within their ranks. They
were trying to outdo each other in terms of their knowledge about the origin of
Jesus. Thoughts were running in their minds, such as if Jesus was a prophet and
the promised messiah. They were like little children in a contest of arguments
as to who amongst them had the best idea about Jesus.
This scenario still
exists today, many of us argue about Jesus to prove that one has a superior
knowledge about Jesus over the other. However, what would we get if we argue?
If we try to show that we know more than anyone else about Jesus? Nothing
except a showcase of our arrogance and bloated egos which results to more
division and alienation.
Instead of arguing
let us show through our works the love, humility, mercy and compassion of
Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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