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

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. The Feast of Tabernacles: This week and next, we are reading selections from the first half of the Gospel of John. As we read, we see that the Jewish feasts play an important role in John’s Gospel. Jesus is seen by John as bringing all of the feasts to their fulfillment. For example, the three feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First-fruits were all transformed by Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection and memorialized in the New Passover of the Eucharist. The Feast of Pentecost, which commemorated the giving of the Old Law, became the day when the Spirit of God descended upon the Church gathered around Mary. It is the grace of the Spirit that enables us to live the New Law of Charity (John 13:34). The feast in today’s Gospel is that of Tabernacles. It commemorated the time of God dwelling in a tabernacle with Israel in the desert; it was a time of thanksgiving for the fall harvest; and it looked forward to the future coming of the Messiah, when God would once again dwell with his people and gather the nations to worship. The Feast of Tabernacles was a feast of water and light. The priests would draw water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out on the altar to commemorate the gift of water in the desert and to symbolize the outpouring of God’s Spirit. During the feast, Jesus will declare himself as the source of living water and the one who pours out the Spirit. There was also a light ceremony that illuminated the Temple. It symbolized the pillar of fire that guided the people in the desert. And, during the feast, Jesus will declare himself as the Light of the World. 

2. Jesus’ Hour: Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles, not with the pilgrim crowds and his disciples, but in secret. Secrecy was necessary this time because, during a previous feast in Jerusalem, the Judeans tried to kill Jesus: “For this reason, the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God” (John 5:18). Something similar happens at this feast. The religious authorities tried to arrest Jesus and would later try to trap him. Secrecy was also necessary because Jesus’ family and relatives wanted him to use the feast to show himself to the world (John 7:4). But John points out that the hour of Jesus’ passion, death, and glorification had not yet come. It was still several months away.

3. Jesus Tabernacles Among Us in the Eucharist: We experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles especially in the Eucharist. As John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt – tabernacled – among us” (John 1:14). This divine tabernacling continues in a profound and sacramental way through the Most Holy Eucharist, where the eternal Word – he who was with God in the beginning and was God (John 1:1-2), through whom all things were made and who came into the world he created yet was not recognized (John 1:10) – makes himself truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. By the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of consecration, transubstantiation occurs: the substance of bread and wine is wholly changed into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, while the accidents of taste, appearance, and shape remain. This Real Presence allows the same Lord whom John the Baptist proclaimed as the Lamb of God to dwell intimately within us. Just as the Feast of Tabernacles recalled God’s dwelling with Israel in the desert through the tabernacle (tent) of old, the Eucharist fulfills this by extending Christ’s Incarnation through the centuries – he tabernacles among us and within us, nourishing our souls with His divine life, uniting us more deeply to God and to one another in the Church. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324), containing Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread, through whom we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16) and are drawn into eternal communion with the Father.

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?