The Jews thought they knew where Jesus came from. They said to each other: "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." They assumed that he was from Nazareth, the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter. They knew nothing about the message of the angel to Mary announcing his birth. They knew nothing about the message of the angels to the shepherds announcing the birth of the Son of God. They knew nothing of the magi who came following a star indicating the new born king. On the basis of what they thought they knew some of them rejected him. Because of this error the leaders prophesied about in the first reading saw in him nothing apart from one who calls himself son of God, and who is an affront to their power and reputation and must be eliminated.
We too can be blinded by the little and sometimes erroneous beliefs we have about people. We know where they come from. We know their type. We know their tribe and all the common things said about those tribes. But do we really know them? Do we know how they feel, what they are anxious about, what they have suffered, the hidden potential in them? Do we know them as they perceive themselves? If we did we could not help loving them.
There was only one way those who thought they knew where Jesus came from him could correct their error: by putting aside what they thought they knew and listening to him. He said to them: "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." If this truth had really dawned in them they would have fallen on their knees in humble adoration of the mystery before them.
There is only one way we can know people as they truly are: by putting aside our ideas about them and getting to really know them; by listening to them, getting acquainted with them, paying attention to their words, their feelings, their behavior.
FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Friday 23rd March 2012
