And it is the present that counts, not the genealogy
(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)
Unexpected origins, to be killed not to be replaced
"[Certainly] you know me and you know where I am from. Yet I did not come from myself, but he is true who sent me, whom you do not know. I know him, because I am from him and he has sent me" (John 7:28-29).
Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way.
He asks us to reinterpret and reveal him in an equally unprecedented, personal, creative way.
He cherishes only life, and life is always new. He does not cling to standards, to thinking, to explanations.
The Envoy obeys an unthinking, non-local Calling.
This is what distinguishes divine action and even geography, which goes beyond the territorially implanted 'synagogue'.
Recognising Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that such attunement and choice entails.
One can reject him by calculation, not spontaneously.
We are well aware that by rejecting him we exclude our root; however, by accepting him we risk everything and even our skin. What is to be done?
Is it not better to camouflage oneself to keep the situation quiet?
After the abandonment of some of the disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even ups the ante.
By pretending, we too could marginalise him, in order to preserve security in the immediate future - and perhaps gain from it.
But if we do not proceed to our Source, we will not encounter the crystal-clear water.
All of existence will become a useless compromise of theatrics, which in the turn of events to be staged disguise theatrics and self-interest, making authentic vocational implications pale into oblivion.
In the Fourth Gospel, the threat of death on the Lord is constant.
People are drawn, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected origins, to be killed lest they be replaced.
Even today, a framework of respect and consternation is formed around the living Christ.
To obey one's Calling by Name is to experience the closure and opposition of the authorities.
All this, amidst the bewilderment of the people - perhaps also confused because they expect something else, and find it hard to recognise us.
Even those who proceed incognito - and yet are in Christ - cannot go unnoticed. And the present counts, not the genealogy.
Elaborate things or expected merits [fame, the great city, the lineage that counts...] do not touch the crux of the matter.
God's origin in us is inexplicable, enigmatic. But He presents us as His envoys.
The experts of the eternal city do not know the Father (v.28), despite the fact that they boast of possessing him exclusively: in their beliefs, in their norms, in their history, in the Temple, in their particular way of life.
In both popular and elite opinions, the Mystery was supposed to have an unknown and occult origin...
How to guess it in each one of us [deprived of the showcase of great titles, catwalks, pretensions, outward works]?
How to grasp it, if for public opinion we are nothing exceptional, nothing 'special' - and even inappropriate?
According to the Synoptics, during his public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once, the time when he was condemned by the religious establishment.
According to the fourth Gospel, two or three, on the occasion of the Passover.
It is likely that He was in the holy city several times in private.
But the image of the hidden Christ here alludes to His sacred Presence in the ordinary faithful.
Especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ecclesia) at the end of the first century, believers in the Lord Jesus were forced not to make the adherence of the heart manifest.
Vocation is our destiny, the secret of life.
These ideas that we cannot contain launch new opinions and ways of being.
Eccentricities that end up generating doubts in others, and open opposition from those who hold the reins of power.
They are all recalcitrant defenders, without criticism of specific weight: co-opted by representation; of the world and ancient or established, well-known and quiet ways, or à la page.
Conversely, knowledge of God passes through the challenge of recognising a subversive, doomed and fugitive (v.1): The Nazzarene in us.
The arcane and real Christ, misunderstood fulcrum of our solemnities.
The feast of the Jewish festivals, the Feast of the Tents, commemorated the mirabilia Dei of the Exodus and cast its gaze towards a glorious future.
It celebrated hopes of prestige, the expected final victory over other nations (and their exploitation).
But the friends of the Son have no predatory ambitions.
Even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of violent and artificial prosperity.
We disdain the perverse influences of any empty, opportunistic, or dull, circumstantial spirituality.
And should some interested parties want to lay hands on us out of interest [or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies] the turn of events will keep the authentic Witnesses out of harm's way (v.30).
It will be the disregarded origins that will lead the Unknown to replace the official "educators" (v.28) clinging only to ideas.
The experience of divine glory that he lives is still sub contraria specie: in the kingship that pushes down.
Force-a-roar: it allows metamorphosis to surface and let us discover awe-inspiring metamorphoses.
In this way, by avoiding allowing the Lord to still be killed out of convenience, we will be able to safeguard both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.
A change of face and cosmos, albeit unthought of. Development and passage that convinces the soul.
To internalise and live the message:
How do I safeguard my community life and my transpositions of Faith in Christ?
Or do I let the Lord be killed in me and outside for convenience?
Knowledge of God
The knowledge of God becomes eternal life. Obviously, 'knowledge' here means something more than outward knowledge, as we know, for example, when a famous person died and when an invention was made. To know in the sense of Holy Scripture is to become inwardly one with another. To know God, to know Christ always also means to love Him, to become in some way one with Him by virtue of knowing and loving. Our life thus becomes an authentic, true and thus also eternal life, if we know Him who is the source of all being and all life. Thus the word of Jesus becomes an invitation for us: let us become friends of Jesus, let us seek to know Him more and more! Let us live in dialogue with Him! Let us learn righteous living from Him, let us become His witnesses! Then we become people who love, then we act righteously. Then we truly live.
[Pope Benedict, homily at the Lord's Supper 1 April 2010].
