A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 5:31-47
Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life. "I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
REFLECTION:
Have you ever called your electric company, your satellite or phone company and you could not get too far because they needed your password or your mother’s maiden name or your favorite movie star when you were 10......for identification!?
It is quite frustrating and sometimes we lose the battle to speak with a live person because no one believes you are whom you claim to be because you did not have the “identifying passwords.”
Such must have been Jesus’ frustration at the Scribes and Pharisees. Here was the Son of God with all the proof and yet having this same type of conversation—they would not believe He was who He claimed He was.
And why??-they simply refused to believe that He was sent from the Father, that He spoke with authority and acted in the name of God. Jesus does not “hang up on them” but continues with the witnesses on his behalf. John the Baptist, the miracles, the healings or works given to Him by His Father to do nor the first 5 Books of Moses could convince them . The coming of Jesus was foretold in these books. They did not want to know more about Jesus!
Jesus even attributes His works of healing coming from His Father and yet they nodded negatively to His claims.
The Scribes and the Pharisees did all they could not to believe Jesus was God. Was it ignorance or apathy or jealousy? The lowly followers who depended more on God were the ones who believed and their ears were opened by Jesus to learn and obey the very heart of God.
Whom do we want to be?
May our priests identify with Jesus’ authority when they preach against abortions .
