Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A-2023

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Grasp What Jesus Is, What He Says and Does

Jesus who is close to the Father’s heart makes him known to us. It is crucial that we grasp what Jesus is, what he says and does.

Those to whom Jesus speaks do not grasp what he teaches by way of a figure of speech. And they are not the disciples but the Pharisees. These asked him before, “Are we blind also?” And his reply was: “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

These guardians of the law like to think they see and grasp better than others what it teaches and demands. They defend it with rigor and insist that theirs is the right to make sure that it is kept.

That was why they took Jesus to task for doing work on the Sabbath to cure one blind from birth. Their zeal for the law drove them to call him a sinner. They also cross-examined the one who received his sight and, in the end, threw him out.

Clearly, the Pharisees’ reaction to the cure of the man blind from birth shows that they focus on the law. We see this focus also in their bringing before Jesus a woman caught in adultery. And in their questioning his testimony, since the law asks for two witnesses. And with such focus, there is no way they can grasp the figure of speech that he uses. For they deem the law, that has come through Moses, to be the gate to salvation. But, for his part, Jesus, through whom grace and truth have come, teaches that he is the gate of salvation.

To grasp what Jesus is, what he says and does, means to accept that he is the gate and the shepherd.

So that we do not end up not receiving him, we should, for a start, stop being self-sufficient and self-righteous. We have to save ourselves from the corrupt generation that boasts of its successes through its do-it-yourself approach. This generation sees no need at all for guides or shepherds to lead it.

We are to understand, too, that to accept Jesus is not just to keep the law or a set of rules. It is to welcome him as our rule (SV.EN XII:110). This means that we should hear his voice as he speaks to us in the Scriptures. For not to know them is not to know Christ. It further means to converse with him and ask him what he would if he were in our place (SV.EN XI:314). And this is a way to make sure that we hear him call us by name. That we also go through life with him and not stray from the shepherd and guardian of our souls. After all, we do not want to fall into the hands of those steal, slaughter and destroy.

For we can all only be safe and sound when our shepherd is Jesus. And he gives life to the full as he feeds us with his word, and with his body and blood. For him, besides, justice, mercy and faith are what counts most in the law.

Lord Jesus, help us to know that love is above all rules (SV.EN X:478). We will thus grasp what you are, what you say and do, and fight with you against religious rigorism.


30 April 2023

Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

Acts 2, 14a. 36-41; 1 Pt 2, 20b-25; Jn 10, 1-10


VERSIÓN ESPAÑOLA

Captar lo que es Jesús, lo que él dice y hace

Jesús, que vive en íntima unión con el Padre, nos lo da a conocer. No es decisivo captar lo que es Jesús, lo que él dice y hace.

Los que a los cuales habla Jesús no logran captar lo que enseña él a modo de comparación. Y ellos no son los discípulos, sino los fariseos. Los últimos le preguntaron antes: «¿También nosotros estamos ciegos?». Y se les contestó: «Si estuvierais ciegos, no tendríais pecado; pero como decís que veis, vuestro pecado persiste».

Creen esos guardianes de la ley que nadie puede ver, captar, mejor que ellos lo que ella enseña y exige. La defienden con todo rigor e insisten en que de ellos es el derecho a procurar que se cumpla ella.

Es por eso que criticaron a Jesús. Pues él había hecho trabajo no permitido el día sábado para curar a un ciego de nacimiento. El celo de ellos por la ley los impulsó a tomarle al curador por pecador. Interrogaron también al curado y, al fin, lo expulsaron.

Deja claro la reacción de los fariseos a la curación del ciego que ellos se centran en la ley. Se ve esto también al presentarse ellos a Jesús con una mujer sorprendida en adulterio. Y al poner ellos en duda el testimonio de él, ya que requiere la ley que haya dos testigos. Y centrados así en la ley, no pueden ellos del todo captar la comparación de la que se sirve él. Pues toman la ley, que se les ha dado por medio de Moisés, por puerta de la salvación. Mas dice por su parte Jesús, por medio del cual, han venido la gracia y la verdad, que él es la puerta de la salvación.

Captar lo que es Jesús, lo que dice él y hace, quiere decir admitir que él es la puerta y el pastor.

Para que no seamos de los que no lo reciben, nos hemos de renunciar, para empezar, a toda autosuficencia. Y a las pretensiones de superioridad de todo tipo. Tenemos que escapar de esa generación perversa que se jacta de sus éxitos que atribuye ella al modo de proceder «hazlo-tú-mismo». Ella no necesita de nadie que camine delante de ella para guiarla o pastorearla.

Tenemos que saber que recibir a Jesús no se trata de guardar no más la ley o unas reglas. Es acogerlo a él y tomarlo por nuestra regla (SV.ES XI:429). Quiere decir esto que hay que atender a su voz mientras nos habla en las Escrituras. Es que no conocerlas es no conocer a Cristo. También hay que conversar con él y preguntar qué haría él si estuviera en nuestro lugar (SV.ES XI:240). Si esto lo hacemos, le oiremos llamarnos por nuestro nombre. Y recorreremos el camino de la vida con él. Es decir, no andaremos descarriados como ovejas, lejos del pastor y guardian de nuestras vidas. Después de todo, no queremos caer en manos de pastores falsos que roban, matan y hacen estragos.

Pues salvos y sanos nos hallamos con tener a Jesús por pastor. Y él nos da vida abundante mientras nos nutre con su palabra, y con su cuerpo y sangre. Para él, la justicia, la compasión y la fidelidad son lo que más vale en la ley.

Señor Jesús, ayúdanos a comprender que el amor está por encima de todas las reglas (SV.ES IX:1125). Lograremos así captar lo que eres tú, lo que dices y haces, y combatir contigo el rigorismo en la religión.


30 Abril 2023

4º Domingo de Pascua (A)

Hch 2, 14a. 36-41; 1 Pd 2, 20b-25; Jn 10, 1-10