Reflection On John 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30

The moment you teach a child the name of a bird, it stops seeing the bird”, goes a Chinese proverb. Our prejudices often conceal the truth from us. It may block us from experiencing, understanding, experimenting and deciding what reality is. This is what happened to the people who were talking about Jesus. They went by the opinions of others; they did not have any first –hand information about Jesus.
John the Apostle, who was with Jesus during the last days of His ministry, recounts how Jesus was a marked man whom people were trying to kill. Imagine the Lord God himself forced into a position of having to hide. He even had to disguise the meaning of His words in order to protect Himself. When asked if He were going to the feast of Booths in Jerusalem, He said, “No” meaning “not publicly.” it seems that, on this trip, He was intending to sit in the back row rather than to be up front in the pulpit. This event reveals something of the heart of Jesus. Fearing for His life and intending to remain as anonymous as possible, He was unable to stay quiet or hidden for long. There must have been a powerful force within Jesus which compelled Him to speak out and state the truth, albeit always with love. Thus, on this occasion, He began preaching, once again drawing a vast and inquiring crowd which provoked more ire and violence from His adversaries. The language becomes confrontational in tone on the part of Jesus and physical violence is threatened against Him. A peacemaker at any cost, He was not. As a consistent defender of truth and justice, there has never been a better. We must constantly examine the real strengths of our own convictions, with the Lord’s examples ever in mind. In human relations often we fail to give the other person the right to be he or herself and understand them as they are. Let us make ourselves free of all prejudices that we may know and appreciate the value of each human being.
Questions to ponder:
How one can motivate by Jesus’ words?
Are your thoughts alike Jesus?
Does your decision or talk based on prejudices?

Comments

Post a Comment

write your comments here!!

Popular posts from this blog

Reflection On Mark 8: 11-13

There is a proverb which states, “There are none so blind as those who won’t see.”  It means if your mind is set on one direction, it will be almost impossible to convince you of something different. Such is the frame of mind of the Pharisees concerning Jesus. When they approach Him and ask for a sign from heaven, their mind is already made up that Jesus is fake. Their intention is to expose Him as such and thus to undermine his authority and even hopefully, to completely discredit Him and have Him lose popular support. The Pharisees were the perennial negative critics of Jesus. They were the many little crosses He had to accept and carry every day prior to His big cross. Notice how they boldly stepped forward here and immediately started to argue with Jesus. They refused to take the Lord’s words at face value. They claimed a sign from the heavens would enable them to place their faith in the Lord, but Jesus knew that even the most spectacular signs would not convince them to a...
Read more

Reflection On Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

Today, we have one of the most famous parables in the entire Bible. It’s the story of the man with two sons. It is one of Jesus’ most original tales. We normally refer to it as the Parable of the Prodigal Son or sometimes as the story of the Forgiving Father. Actually, it could better and more properly be called the Parable of the Prodigal Father.  His prodigality is much more evident than is that of his son. The father was extremely prodigal with his money when he so easily handed it over to his wayward son. Generally the inheritance would have been conferred on him only after his father’s death. The father’s “prodigality” is also shown in his total forgiveness if his son when at last he decided to return. It’s one of Sacred Scripture’s most wonderful commentaries on the relationship of God to his people. No one is rotten to the core. Every person instinctively responds to God’s call. There is no helpless soul, for the soul is God’s implanted hope. Jesus sees promise in his st...
Read more

Reflection On John 10: 31-42

It demands a lot of courage and conviction from our side to stand by the truth. This is one of the messages that this passage gives. There may be times when we are not accepted for the good works we do as it happened in the case of Jesus. He went about doing well to everyone; but He was accused of making Himself equal to God. But Jesus knew well that His works are nothing but the works of His Father. The poor being protected, the blind seeing, the widow and the orphan being cared for, the prisoners being freed, etc.., were the works that always made the people of Israel recognize the presence of God in their midst. Still they tried to find fault with Him and arrest Him. We need to be so vigilant that we do not fall prey to the evil by using our power to destroy the growth and goodness of others for the purpose of defending our interests. Jesus says that if the people refuse to believe in His words, they should at least accept His deeds. The Lord is applying here the old say...
Read more