STONING JESUS
With
the two readings (and the Responsorial Psalm) all containing references
to the patriarch, Abraham, our Holy Mass today can probably be called
the “Abraham Mass.”
The First Reading spoke of the change of his name from “Abram” to
“Abraham.” This signifies a new, God-given mission in life, a change of
identity — as God spoke to him, “You are to become the father to a host
of nations.... I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make
nations of you....”
The Gospel, on the other hand, has a different usage of the person of
Abraham. Jesus was invoking the great patriarch against his accusers,
the Jews. Then in a dramatic, suspenseful climax in the quarrel between
Jesus and the Jews, He made a solemn pronouncement: “Before Abraham came
to be, I AM.”
However, far from closing the argument, the declaration backfired on
Jesus. The Jews picked up rocks to stone Him, “but Jesus hid and went
out of the temple area.”
That close call, that Houdini-like escape act, was surely no joke.
Thank God the violent confrontation was averted — for Jesus’ hour had
not yet come. Still, we are saddened and sorry for Jesus.
How much of our actual sins are tantamount to the same threats of the
Jews versus Jesus? How often have we hurt Him, certainly not physically
but spiritually? In the sense, our Lord will surely escape and slip out
from us. Our sinfulness will never succeed in overpowering His infinite
love for us.
We repent and acknowledge our faults and failures. We atone for them in
sorrow, entrusting ourselves to God’s unconditional mercy. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: In what ways have you stoned Jesus like what the Jewish people did?
Sorry, Lord Jesus, for the many times I sinned against You. Help me to repent sincerely of my sins and do penance for them.
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