2024-01-03 06:25:51
In the Gospel today Jesus does not say a word. He simply appears approaching John the Baptist. His figure remains in the background and Juan is the center of the story. It is John who bears witness to Jesus. John says everything he thinks regarding Jesus. His testimony ends by affirming that “this is the Son of God.”
I have the impression that many Christians have stayed at this point in the Gospel and have not gone further. They have received the testimony of others regarding Jesus. They have received catechesis, talks, homilies. In all those moments, someone, priest, catechist, religious, committed layman, has spoken to them regarding who Jesus is. They have not only received theology classes. All of these people have also offered their vital testimony. With their hearts in their hands they have spoken to them regarding who Jesus is for them, what his word and his presence in their lives have meant. Listeners have been impressed. They have offered them an image of Jesus both at the level of ideas and at the vital level. Many have assimilated it. Jesus, that Jesus that they have told you regarding has also become part of their lives. But they haven’t gone beyond there.
With that “they have not gone from there” I mean that they have not taken the next step, that they have not continued reading the Gospel. In other words, they have not made the effort to meet Jesus directly. They have stuck to what they have been told regarding him.
It would be good if they took that step. We certainly cannot meet Jesus as the disciples met him. They had the opportunity to live with him day to day for a few years. But in our hands we can have the treasure that is the Gospels. They offer us the possibility of meeting Jesus almost live and direct. They are no longer the words of men and women of today but the living testimony of those who knew him and lived with him. Possibly, we will encounter a Jesus with a richer and more nuanced personality than that offered by these testimonies, which undoubtedly also have their value but which cannot replace this personal encounter with the Jesus that the Gospels offer us.
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#Gospel #Reflection #Homily #Wednesday #January
