1st Reading: Jer 11:18–20
Gospel: Jn 7:40–53
Many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Doesn’t Scripture say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?” The crowd was divided over him. Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!”
Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.”
And they all went home.

Commentary
“Have you ever known one of the authorities or one pharisee to believe in him?”

In the end, we are all responsible
for our own decisions, our own insights for our own
decisions, our own insights
about Jesus.
We cannot hand over our souls
to anyone–
not even to teachers and theologians
who, history shows us, have also been often wrong.

________
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