Daily Gospel Reflection for April 12, 2019

Today's Gospel: John 10:31-42 We are deep into Lent and know that the Passion of Our Lord is coming soon. In today’s gospel, we see an instance of the growing anxiety about Jesus’s ministry. The Jews in this crowd are ready to stone Him. Unable to negate the good works He has performed, they accuse Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God. Jesus appeals to them, first by quoting their scriptures, and then by pointing out that His wondrous acts speak for themselves. Unable to get the crowd to understand, Jesus escapes and returns to the land where John the Baptist preached about the Messiah. The crowd didn’t get it. They didn’t get him. Sometimes I can all too easily place myself among that crowd, rejecting Jesus’ teachings even while seeing His works in my life. I, too, often still don’t get Him. But Jesus has words for me, and you: “Believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." It reminds me of a question Jesus posed to Peter, “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16: 15). This period of prayerful preparation as we approach Holy Week puts us among the crowds. Will we recognize the Son of God, the Messiah? Jesus encourages us to look deeper and see the Truth.