Mary van Balen

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
Ps 34,19-20

...But we know where he is from. Jn 7,27a



I once heard a quote, sometimes attributed to Plato that admonished the hearer to be gentle with those she meets because she does not know the battles they are fighting. Today's gospel reminded me of that. Judging someone entails assuming we know a lot more about him or her than we possibly can.

Those who judged Jesus to be an impostor, a blasphemer, assumed they knew where he came from, and in one way they did. They knew where he lived. They knew he was a carpenter from a backwater town. But that was all they knew, and it was not enough. Read More 

PHOTO:MARY VAN BALEN


Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
Jn 7, 25-27




Today's reading skips some of the "good parts," picking and choosing verses. The reader will miss Jesus' brothers chiding him about not going to the festival of Booths in Judea, saying he should go since "no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret...show yourself to the world" (4).

Jesus says he won't go because people there want to kill him, but after his brothers leave, Jesus goes in secret. Read More