Friends, the closer we get to Lent, the more the question regarding Jesus’s identity intensifies. Who is he? Where did he come from? What is he here to do? What does he mean when he says certain things that had been so unclear in the past? And yet, with great authority, he clarifies what God originally intended. Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4:41). So Jesus’s identity is always central in our consideration, because in order to build a relationship with him, we really need to know who he is and to spend time with him in prayer and through the reading of Scriptures.
Well, in today’s Gospel we have this question of where he comes from. Why? Because there were certain prophecies connected with the Messiah, the one who was to come, the Promised One, and they had indicated that he would be coming from the house of David, from the lineage of David. So prophets like the prophet Micah, for example, indicated that Bethlehem would be the town from which he would be born, the city of David, and therefore he would be linked to the lineage, the family tree of King David. For God had promised that King David’s throne, King David’s rule would last forever through his offspring, because there would come one who would be eternal. In fact, in the prophecy of Micah, we hear that his origin is from everlasting (Micah 5:2), rather than in the last book of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, we hear Jesus himself saying, what? Not that he had a beginning, but that he is the beginning: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). And he is eternal because he is the second person of the Divine Trinity, the Eternal Son of the Father, right? So that the Father would never have been the Father without the Son, and the Son would never have been the Son without the Father, and the two of them would never have been united without the Holy Spirit. And so from eternity, you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Now, in today’s Gospel, we hear that “some in the crowd who heard these words said, ‘This is truly the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ’” (John 7:40–41). 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?” (John 7:41–42). So there was a division that occurred in the crowd because of him. And then the Pharisees and the priests get involved, who are still maintaining that Jesus is an intruder, a fraud, and somebody who is asserting the authority of God unto himself. And so the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?” (John 7:47) because the guards themselves said, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man” (John 7:46). The guards themselves were questioned by the authorities, by the chief priests and the Pharisees: why did you not bring him in? And that was their answer: “Never before has anyone spoken like this man” (John 7:46).
So we see this confusion in today’s Gospel regarding Jesus’s origin. Where is he from? Is he from Galilee? Is he from Nazareth? Is he from Bethlehem? The truth is, they may have known the place of his birth, or the place where he was raised in Nazareth, or even the place where he began his public ministry from Galilee, but they did not know that his person, as the second person of the Divine Trinity, was from eternity.
And so they could not know that, which is very reminiscent of King Melchizedek, who was also a priest whose origins are unknown in the Old Testament. Mysteriously enough, he offers wine and bread (Genesis 14:18). Jesus is the true eternal High Priest, the King of kings, and what Jesus does far surpasses the offering of Melchizedek, which foreshadows Jesus’s sacrifice.
And so, my brothers and sisters, let us remember that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, wants us to know that he is capable of intervening in those things that normally are beyond our control, beyond our understanding, and that we too ought to cherish, like the people in today’s Gospel: “This is the Christ. This is truly the Prophet” (John 7:41). “Never before has anyone spoken like this man” (John 7:46). We ought to be enamored with Jesus. We ought to be surprised, pleasantly surprised. We ought to gaze in wonder like the apostles and ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41).
And we need to keep our guard in check, because there are many persecutors out there who wish to rob us of this faith that has been planted in our hearts. And the persecutions and the attacks are very subtle, but Jesus reminds us: “Do not be afraid… I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
May he bless you today in a very special way.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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