Soul Food : Jesus, The Christ

JeSuS, The chriST

In the Gospel of John, we can see the different judgment of the characters. Based on what they have heard, seen and known about Jesus, they come up with their various judgments of Him. Some would judge Jesus as a prophet, others would say that He is the Messiah. But on the part of those who know that Jesus is from Galilee and knowing that He is an uneducated outsider, they did not believe that He is the Messiah because they said that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem and not from Galilee. But through Jesus’ words and deeds they were amazed. So, their further questions would be: “Why can Jesus be amazing in His words and deeds? Where does He get His wisdom?” We can clearly see in the life of Jesus that He is sent to us by the Father in order for us to be redeemed. It is really God’s plan for our salvation.

The Gospel for today speaks of the controversy regarding the origin of the Messiah. Where did He come from? What is His origin?

People in the Bible are often named after their place of origin: Simon of Cyrene, Mary of Magdala, Simon of Arimathea. Jesus, too, for a time was designated by the place of His origin, thus, Jesus of Nazareth. But you will notice that later in His life and ministry, Jesus will come to be known as the Christ, from the Greek word , meaning the Annointed, the Messiah, the one sent by the Father. Jesus came to be known not only by His physical origin but more so by His spiritual and divine lineage. We, too, have a spiritual lineage. That is why even though we have different names, we all share a common name — Christian. We are to be known not only by our physical places of origin. We are to be known by our truthfulness to our spiritual lineage. Fr. Joel O. Jason

Reflection Question:

How have you lived up to your name as Christian? Have you given a good accounting of your spiritual lineage?

Lord, teach me to judge my life and the life of others as You do so that we can be worthy of the love and salvation that You have for us.

St. Guntramnus, King, pray for us.