Gospel
‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee?’
John 7:40-52
At that time: When the crowd heard these words of Jesus some of the people said, ‘This really is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?’ So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why did you not bring him?’ The officers answered, ‘No one ever spoke like this man!’ The Pharisees answered them, ‘Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.’ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ‘Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?’ They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.’
People, the guards and the Pharisees, the wise and learned, follow their logic and reasoning about the Lord, yet God’s hand was with Him. How could the guards fail to arrest Him just because of how He spoke? This defies logic entirely, and the only possible explanation is the supernatural intervention of the Father protecting His Son, as His time had not yet come.
Applied to Married Life:
Joanna: We have the bad habit of defending ourselves because we don’t trust in God’s action.
James: What do you mean?
Joanna: I mean that when we feel an injustice has been done, we immediately react by trying to enforce our own justice. And of course, it never goes well.
James: I see. You’re saying the true path is meekness, trusting that God will protect us and deliver His justice.
Joanna: Exactly, that’s trusting in God.
Mother,
Our Advocate, we trust in you.