First Reading (Jeremiah 20:10–13)
Responsorial Psalm: (Psalm 18)
Response: In my anguish I called to the Lord, and he heard me.
Gospel Acclamation: Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel: (John 10:31–42)
Reflection
The Gospel passage today tells us of the intention of the people to stone Jesus to death. Jesus asks them the reason for which they want to stone Him. For them, it is not for any good work, but for blasphemy. For them, He blasphemed by saying He was God, whereas He was a human being.
As we are approaching Holy Week, the readings begin to talk about plots to kill Jesus. The reason for which they want to stone Him is unfounded. They say He is claiming to be God, whereas He was a human being. But truly, Jesus was God.
Even after Jesus explained, telling them even from Scripture how they too were called gods because God lived in them, and how He is God because of His Father’s works, they still do not believe Him and still make an attempt to arrest Him. What more proof do they want? What is it that Jesus really did that merited stoning?
And even if they doubted that He was God, could they not see from the things He did, from His works, and even from the fact that the Father bore witness and testified and glorified Him?
But this is, however, just to let us see, beloved, that when people hate you and want to eliminate you, they will accuse you even for the good that you do. They will find fault with everything you do. Even for the good you do, even for the truth that you speak, they will create evil out of it just to destroy you.
Therefore, we can suffer for being good, and we can suffer for doing good. You can be hated and even killed for being good and for doing good.
But we are told that many of them later believed in Him after seeing His works and hearing His words. But the next worry is: where were these many who believed in Him when the others were accusing Him and killing Him? Could they not speak up to defend Him? Could they not stand up for Him?
This also is to tell us that many will see the truth, many will know the truth, but they will not be ready to stand up for us when we need it the most. Some people fear to identify with us in times of trouble because they fear their good name. They fear to be associated with us because we have been tagged with evil. So, though they know we are innocent, though they know the truth, they choose to be silent.
What do we do in the face of all this? Do we stop being good? Of course not. Do we also become evil like the evildoers? No, that is not the answer.
Let the evil of wicked people not change you from the good person that you are or from doing the good that you do. Just know that some people will never appreciate you, not even for the good you do, but keep doing good all the time. This is the great lesson to learn.
The people did not appreciate Jesus. They were ready to stone Him even for the fact that He was God. But you see, Jesus kept on doing good. He kept on being good.
Let us not give in to the evil of evildoers because they fail to appreciate us. And let us not stop doing good because some people do not seem to appreciate the good that we do.
It pays to be good. It pays to remain good. After all, we are not doing it for people; we are doing it for God. And it is that God who will glorify us.
So remember: yes, some people will never appreciate you or the good that you do, but keep doing good and keep being good all the same.
God bless you 🙏
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