Mar 27, 2025 Written by 

Knowing Christ is not an external knowledge

And the present matters, not the genealogy

(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)

 

Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way. He asks us to reinterpret and reveal divine Presence in an equally creative mode.

He only guards life, and life is always new. It does not cling to standards, to thought, to explanations.

The Envoy obeys an unthinkable and non-local Call. This is what distinguishes action and even divine geography, which surpasses the "synagogue" established in the area.

Recognizing Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that this harmony and choice entail.

He can be rejected by calculation, not spontaneously. By denying Him we exclude our root; however, by welcoming, everything and even survival are at stake. What to do?

Isn't better to blend in to keep things going?

After the abandonment of some disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even adds to the dose, and doesn’t depart.

Pretending, we too could marginalize Him to preserve immediate security. But if we didn’t proceed towards our Source, we would not encounter crystal clear water.

 

In the fourth Gospel the threat of death on the Lord is constant. People are attracted, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected Origins, to be killed in order not to be replaced.

According to the Synoptics, during public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once [in which He was condemned by the religious institution].

According to the fourth Gospel, two or three times, on the occasion of Easter.

It’s likely that He has been to the Holy City several times, in private.

But the image of the hidden Christ alludes here to His ‘presence’ in the common faithful, forced not to make clear the adhesion of the heart - especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ecclesia) at the end of the first century.

The ‘knowledge’ of God now passes through the challenge of ‘recognizing’ a subversive, condemned to death and fugitive (v.1): the Nazarene in us, the unrecognized fulcrum of our solemnities.

The eminent feast of the Jewish, that of the Booths [Sukkot], commemorated the «mirabilia Dei» of the Exodus and looked to the future by celebrating hopes of prestige and victory over other nations.

Well, even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of a violent and artificial prosperity, as well as the perverse influence of an empty, circumstantial spirituality.

And should some opportunists want to lay their hands on us out of self-interest, or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies, the turn of events will save the true Witnesses from any danger (v.30).

 

It will be the “impossible origins” to bring the Unknown to replace the official «educators» (v.28) clinging only to ideas.

The experience of divine glory living is still «sub contraria specie»: in the kingship that pushes down.

A reverse Force: it allows metamorphoses to surface and let us discover astonishing metamorphoses.

And by not allowing the Lord to be killed again for convenience, we will be able to protect both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.

Change of Face and cosmos, though unexpected. Development and ‘passage’ that convinces the soul.

 

 

[Friday 4th wk. in Lent, April 4, 2025]

456 Last modified on Friday, 04 April 2025 11:59
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

God approached man in love, even to the total gift, crossing the threshold of our ultimate solitude, throwing himself into the abyss of our extreme abandonment, going beyond the door of death (Pope Benedict)
Dio si è avvicinato all’uomo nell’amore, fino al dono totale, a varcare la soglia della nostra ultima solitudine, calandosi nell’abisso del nostro estremo abbandono, oltrepassando la porta della morte (Papa Benedetto)
And our passage too, which we received sacramentally in Baptism: for this reason Baptism was called, in the first centuries, the Illumination (cf. Saint Justin, Apology I, 61, 12), because it gave you the light, it “let it enter” you. For this reason, in the ceremony of Baptism we give a lit blessed candle, a lit candle to the mother and father, because the little boy or the little girl is enlightened (Pope Francis)
È anche il nostro passaggio, che sacramentalmente abbiamo ricevuto nel Battesimo: per questo il Battesimo si chiamava, nei primi secoli, la Illuminazione (cfr San Giustino, Apologia I, 61, 12), perché ti dava la luce, ti “faceva entrare”. Per questo nella cerimonia del Battesimo diamo un cero acceso, una candela accesa al papà e alla mamma, perché il bambino, la bambina è illuminato, è illuminata (Papa Francesco)
Jesus seems to say to the accusers: Is not this woman, for all her sin, above all a confirmation of your own transgressions, of your "male" injustice, your misdeeds? (John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem n.14)
Gesù sembra dire agli accusatori: questa donna con tutto il suo peccato non è forse anche, e prima di tutto, una conferma delle vostre trasgressioni, della vostra ingiustizia «maschile», dei vostri abusi? (Giovanni Paolo II, Mulieris Dignitatem n.14)
The people thought that Jesus was a prophet. This was not wrong, but it does not suffice; it is inadequate. In fact, it was a matter of delving deep, of recognizing the uniqueness of the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his newness. This is how it still is today: many people draw near to Jesus, as it were, from the outside (Pope Benedict)
La gente pensa che Gesù sia un profeta. Questo non è falso, ma non basta; è inadeguato. Si tratta, in effetti, di andare in profondità, di riconoscere la singolarità della persona di Gesù di Nazaret, la sua novità. Anche oggi è così: molti accostano Gesù, per così dire, dall’esterno (Papa Benedetto)
Knowing God, knowing Christ, always means loving him, becoming, in a sense, one with him by virtue of that knowledge and love. Our life becomes authentic and true life, and thus eternal life, when we know the One who is the source of all being and all life (Pope Benedict)
Conoscere Dio, conoscere Cristo significa sempre anche amarLo, diventare in qualche modo una cosa sola con Lui in virtù del conoscere e dell’amare. La nostra vita diventa quindi una vita autentica, vera e così anche eterna, se conosciamo Colui che è la fonte di ogni essere e di ogni vita (Papa Benedetto)
Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, they should bear witness to him and lead people towards him. When we speak of this task in which we share by virtue of our baptism, it is no reason to boast (Pope Benedict)
I cristiani sono popolo sacerdotale per il mondo. I cristiani dovrebbero rendere visibile al mondo il Dio vivente, testimoniarLo e condurre a Lui. Quando parliamo di questo nostro comune incarico, in quanto siamo battezzati, ciò non è una ragione per farne un vanto (Papa Benedetto)

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