Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent.

GOSPEL John 7:40-52

The Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without hearing him

Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, “There has never been anybody who has spoken like him. ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned? One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, you are a descendent of David’s royal house,

and you were born in poverty at Bethlehem; you worked your signs and wonders in Galilee and throughout the whole land of Israel.

We bow down before your splendour as God’s Chosen One, and we affirm our faith in you as our Lord and Redeemer.

You embraced our broken humanity with your divinity: lift us up from our fallen condition.

Open for us the way to the Father and the kingdom of heaven, where we shall gaze on you face to face

as true God and true Man.

Terry Mc Namee