The Messenger

Then Jesus said to those Jews, who believed him: If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him: We are the seed of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to any man: how sayest thou: you shall be free? Jesus answered them: Amen, amen I say unto you: that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. Now the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the son abideth for ever. If therefore the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are the children of Abraham: but you seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do the things that you have seen with your father. They answered, and said to him: Abraham is our father. Jesus saith to them: If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth to you, which I have heard of God. This Abraham did not. You do the works of your father. They said therefore to him: We are not born of fornication: we have one Father, even God. Jesus therefore said to them: If God were your Father, you would indeed love me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of myself, but he sent me.
John 8:31-42 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Prayer Reflection

Dear Father I think Jesus' patience won the day when he was trying to get what he wanted to say across. If that were us we would have lost it and thought how dense is this person that they can't grasp the message I'm giving them. But Jesus living in a period of time that doesn't have advanced technology at their fingertips, has something far greater. He has God as his Father and personal ties to him. And to think they kept plotting to kill him because of it. We too claim that also, not in the same fashion as Jesus, but he is our Father too. Do we tend to be as stubborn as this reading in regards to who Jesus is sent from. Many in the world believe he is only a prophet, not the son of God. Are we the same way? Is our belief and trust, that Jesus is sent from God and is His Son. Or do we also try to kill Jesus in our own lives? Just thinking about this reminded me of a time when I was relating to someone a message from another person and they basically did close to the same as this reading, they didn't believe that so and so sent me to give them the message. They had to go direct to get it from the person themselves, and it had nothing to do with me or the message. I think I've done this myself too after that. When thinking about situations in life we often find a link to the Word of God. Everything that is done has at some point evolved from the Gospels. But many times we take credit for it. Just a thought!