from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the temple court
where he was teaching, “You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of myself; I was sent by the One who
is true, and you don’t know him. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” They would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on
him because his time had not yet come.
Reflection:
Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar presents the salvation
history as theo-drama, which unfolds in various acts and
scenes. Even when a tragic event happens at a given moment,
there is lot more to unfold, and we must patiently wait for the
climax even as we engage the given moment. In today’s first
reading, people are plotting against the protagonist. They
have an illusory sense of control. In the gospel, his enemies want
to arrest Jesus yet cannot, because “his hour had not yet
come.” How liberating would it be, if we truly believed that God
is in charge and nothing could happen to us until our appointed
time in the theo-drama of history arrived! Nothing would stop us
then from living our prophetic vocation fearlessly, living our life
of grace in full. How God dies a thousand deaths in us because
we are too fearful to venture out of ourselves in defense of truth!
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022