March 28, 2020 Daily Gospel Reflection
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.
“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.”
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.
Dear Friends,
I love the
guards in this encounter. They are obviously
concerned with the growing restlessness in the crowd. Voices are being raised and who knows where
it will go. So they go to their leaders
and ask what they should do. They are
chastised for not bringing Jesus with them.
But they respond, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” What do you think Jesus was saying? It is obviously prophetic because the crowd
is calling him a prophet. But, they get
hung up on where he is from and this distracts them from what he is saying.
So, what prophetic
messages do we hear from Jesus? How will
we choose to respond? That is the beauty
of the Word of God. It moves us, it
challenges us, it demands a response from us.
During these trying times we hear many voices. Some voices are telling us to be afraid, some
are telling us there is not enough, some are pointing a finger of blame, and we
are listening. As disciples of the one
true God are called listen to his prophetic Word. His word tells us to, “Be not afraid.” His word tells us to, “Repent and believe in
the Gospel.” His word tells us, “If you
have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
Take your pick, the prophetic Word of God will take you from the fear
and chaos of the world and bring you to the peace that can only be found in
God. So, today let us spend some time
with his prophetic word. Let us rest in
the peace it brings and courageously share that peace with those we encounter,
in our family or our friends as we keep a safe social distance.
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