Gospel: John 5:31-47

 

John is a good interpreter of the words of Jesus. Today’s Gospel is a typical example of the spiritual and mystical depth of the Gospel of the Beloved Disciple. Here it is well to repeat what John Cassian says regarding the discovery of the full and profound sense of the psalms: “…it is not the reading (the study) what makes us penetrate into the sense or meaning of the words, but rather our own experience which has previously been acquired in the life of every day.”. Life enlightens the text; the text enlightens life. 

 

The witness of Jesus is true because He does not promote or exalt Himself. The Lord says: “There is another witness who speaks on My behalf” that is, the Father. And His witness is true and deserves to be believed.

 

John the Baptist also gave witness to Jesus and presents Him to the people as the One sent by God who has to come to this world. For this reason, even if the witness of John the Baptist is very important, Jesus does not depend on him. He has a witness in His favor who is greater than the witness of John, that is, the works which the Father carries out through Him.

 

Previously, Jesus had said, “Whoever is from God listens to the words of God”. The Jews who accused Jesus did not have a mind open to God. And for this reason, they do not  perceive the witness of the Father which reaches them through Jesus. The Jews say that they have faith in the Scriptures, but, in reality, they do not understand Scripture, because the Scripture speaks of Jesus. The Jews say that they are faithful to the Scripture of Moses and, because of this, they condemn Jesus. In reality, Moses and the Scripture speak about Jesus and ask us to believe in Him.