I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.”
But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12
R. (2a) O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me, Lest I become like the lion’s prey, to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just, and because of the innocence that is mine. Let the malice of the wicked come to an end, but sustain the just, O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God, who saves the upright of heart; A just judge is God, a God who punishes day by day.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
See Luke 8:15
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.
GOSPEL
John 7:40-53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
REFLECTIONS:
When resistance and opposition to God's word rears
it head how do you respond? With fear and doubt? Or with faith and courage?
The prophet Jeremiah was opposed by his own people because the words he
spoke in God's name did not sit right with them. They plotted to silence
him and to "cut him off from the land of the living" (Jeremiah 11:19).
Jeremiah responded with meekness and prophetic insight "like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter" (Jeremiah 11:18).
No one could be indifferent for long when confronted with Jesus and
his message. It caused division for many in Israel. Some believed he was
a prophet, some the Messiah, and some believed he was neither. The reaction
of the officers was bewildered amazement. They went to arrest him and returned
empty-handed because they never heard anyone speak as he did. The reaction
of the chief priests and Pharisees was contempt. The reaction of Nicodemus
was timid. His heart told him to defend Jesus, but his head told him not
to take the risk.
Who is Jesus for you? And are you ready to give him your full allegiance?
There will often come a time when we have to take a stand for Christ and
for the gospel. To stand for Jesus may provoke mockery or unpopularity.
It may even entail hardship, sacrifice, and suffering. There are
fundamentally two choices we must choose between: to have our lives fueled
by God’s selfless love for others or by our own self-centered love and
selfish desires, to be loyal to God’s wise rule and kingdom laws or to
the standards of a worldly kingdom opposed to God, to be servants of Jesus
our Master or slaves of sin and Satan. Are you ready to stand for Jesus
and to show him honor and loyalty whatever it may cost you?
"Lord Jesus, your gospel brings joy and freedom. May I be loyal to you
always, even though it produce a cross on earth, that I may share in your
crown in eternity".
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