By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Isaiah 49: 1-6; John 13: 21-33,36-38
After Jesus cleansed the Temple and drove the money changers and vendors out of it, he did not hide himself somewhere safe, but he intensified his preaching among the people. He was seen talking to people, instructing his disciples and challenging the folks. This day he went around preaching amidst the people and probably this was the last day that he was seen preaching, because tomorrow, that is Wednesday things would already begin to develop towards the end!
As the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of the people, in spite of all his passionate preaching, the people did not really understand what they heard, though they were hanging on to the lips of the Lord. He spoke to the disciples about the imminent things to come, but they were equally unprepared when things began to happen. Jesus did not want them to be caught by surprises, but they were not keen enough to grasp all what Jesus said.
The invitation is also to us today: to Listen.
To listen and not merely hear. We hear the Word so much but nothing in us changes. We hear and speak and discuss but fail to grasp the essential meaning of the Word or fail to see the transformation that it can create within us and to yield to it.
To Judas, to Peter, to the disciples, to the people, Jesus speaks his heart out but they are all so occupied, or rather so preoccupied, with their own thoughts and plans that nothing of what Jesus says really makes sense to them. They only come up with insensitive doubts and unrelated questions. They were hearing all that Jesus said, but were finding it so difficult to listen to.
To listen and to be truly transformed, to listen and to understand the Word in its essence, to listen and to put it into practice in our daily life – that is the task entrusted to us today!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.