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

Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22

Psalm 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

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

Jesus moved about within Galilee;

he did not wish to travel in Judea,

because the Jews were trying to kill him.

But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,

he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,

“Is he not the one they are trying to kill?

And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.

Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?

But we know where he is from.

When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,

“You know me and also know where I am from.

Yet I did not come on my own,

but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.

I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

So they tried to arrest him,

but no one laid a hand upon him,

because his hour had not yet come.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, from the beginning you knew how history and your plan of salvation would unfold. You guide all things to their completion. Guide me with your Spirit so that I may accomplish your holy will and attain eternal life with you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Opposition to Jesus: The Judeans, John tells us, were trying to arrest and kill Jesus. Earlier, in Chapter Five, John identified the reason for this opposition: “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (5:18). Jesus is fully aware of the increasing opposition to his doctrine, to his miracles, and to his person. Instead of going with his disciples to the feast, Jesus chooses to go up to Jerusalem in secret. The occasion is the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn feast of seven days that followed the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:33-38). The feast recalled the forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert, celebrated God's presence with his Covenant people, and looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. A pilgrimage to the Temple during this time was obligatory (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). The prophet Zechariah sees the day when all nations – and not just Israel – will travel to Jerusalem for the feast to worship the Lord (Zechariah 14:16-19). Jesus does not hide while he is in Jerusalem for the feast and instead preaches openly. He continues to preach his message about the Father sending him as the only begotten Son to save the world from sin and death.

2. The Thoughts of the Wicked: The passage from the Book of Wisdom characterizes the thoughts of those who sought to kill Jesus. The wicked say among themselves: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.” In his teaching, Jesus often corrected the Pharisees’ misinterpretation of the law and their abuse of the law of Moses to cover their injustices. The liturgy today identifies the just one in the Book of Wisdom with Jesus in the Gospel of John. The wicked think that the just one only professes to know God but really does not; they think that the claim that God is his father is only a boast: “He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord.” They do not know that Jesus is the just one who has true interior knowledge of God and who reveals his divine sonship through miraculous signs. Jesus reveals the Father to us and says today: “I know him, for I come from him and he sent me.” As Matthew writes: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (11:27).

3. Jesus’ Hour: In the Book of Wisdom, the wicked desire to test the just one to see if his doctrine is true and if he is the Son of God. They conspire to revile, torture, and condemn the just one to a shameful death. Their wickedness has blinded them to the truth of the just one’s claim. This is exactly what happens to Jesus on the night of Holy Thursday and on the afternoon of Good Friday. The Judeans in the Gospel try to arrest Jesus but are unable to lay a hand upon him, for Jesus’ hour had not yet come. This hour was first mentioned in Chapter Two of John’s Gospel when Mary told Jesus about the lack of wine. “Woman,” Jesus says, “my hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Jesus’ hour arrives three years later when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. About this hour, Jesus will pray: “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to his hour” (12:27).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, your hour is one of love and suffering. You drank the bitter chalice of suffering so that you could save us from the curse of death. You did this out of love for your Father and all humanity. You did this out of love for me. I love you and welcome the chalice of suffering you offer to me.

Living the Word of God: Throughout Lent, we have heard the call to conversion, to turn away from sin, and to believe in Jesus, the Son of God. Today, we contemplate those who reject Jesus and do not allow him into their lives. We also contemplate Jesus’ great love for us and the gift of divine sonship that he has won for us on the Cross. How have I converted this Lent? How do I need to allow Jesus in my life today?