Jn 5: 31-47
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.
How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Do We Recognize Jesus?
Jesus’ frustration in today’s Gospel is palpable. It’s frustrating when people don’t listen to you, or take you seriously, or when you have to prove yourself. Jesus tells us that “these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the father has sent me” – essentially, “my works speak for themselves.” He lays out his resume, citing John the Baptist, Moses, and the scriptures as his references. All of this, and we’re still unwilling to listen, our hearts hardened, as we continue to obstinately look in the wrong place for salvation. We listen to voices and opinions that are broadcast on the 24-hour news networks, yet Jesus’ voice falls on our deaf ears. We heed the “expertise” of social media influencers, yet we are skeptical when it comes to recognizing the ways in which God’s love and mercy abound in our lives.
What’s my excuse for not listening to what Jesus is saying to me? In what ways have I hardened my heart from recognizing and being grateful for the ways in which God is working in my life?
—Jackie Schulte is the Dean of Faculty Formation at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska.
Prayer
O God, what will you do to conquer
the fearful hardness of our hearts?
Lord, you must give us new hearts,
tender hearts, sensitive hearts,
to replace hearts that are made of marble and of bronze.
You must give us your own Heart, Jesus.
Come, lovable Heart of Jesus.
Place your Heart deep in the center of our hearts
and enkindle in each heart a flame of love
as strong, as great, as the sum of all the reasons
that I have for loving you, my God.
O holy Heart of Jesus, dwell hidden in my heart,
so that I may live only in you and only for you,
so that, in the end, I may live with you eternally in heaven.
Amen.
—St. Claude La Colombiere, SJ