Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.”So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’? ”He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world. ”They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.”Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
REFLECTION
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”(Numbers 21:8)
In the Old Testament there were many references to the Messiah, the Christ. The Pharisees knew the oral traditions and followed the Law. Yet, they would not accept that Jesus was the Messiah. They believed that the Old Testament, Tanakh, was inspired by God, and they were well-versed in the Psalms. So many of the Psalms reference Him: Psalm 22 refers to the crucifixion; Psalm 110 refers to Him as the priestly king; Psalm 16 refers to the resurrection; and Psalm 118 refers that He will be rejected and becomes the cornerstone. Still, they put up this wall that separated them from seeing who Jesus is.
Can we act like the Pharisees? Are we prideful and lack the faith
to recognize Jesus' presence in our lives?
Jesus explained to the Pharisees that they will not be able to follow him. Sin is not allowed in heaven. They must repent from their pride and unbelief to gain heaven. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.
(John 8:28)
We, too, must repent from our sins. Jesus loves us as He did the Pharisees, and took all our sins on Himself, suffered, and died. He did this so that we could repent/confess our sins and have a chance to gain heaven.
Let us frequent confession during what's left of this Lent. Be humble and ask for forgiveness. Then pray for the grace to keep from temptations.
Let us pray for all priests to persevere in faithfulness to their vows and to be Christ to all.
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