Some prophecies in the Old Testament are spot on. We have one of them from the book of
Wisdom this morning as we see an almost perfect prediction of Jesus’ arrest,
suffering and death. Listen again
to some of the lines from this text and compare them to the enemies of Jesus
who eventually had him arrested: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he
sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of
the law and
charges us with violations of our training…He judges us debased; he
holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the
just and
boasts that God is his Father.” This last charge was the
reason why Jesus was arrested and condemned to death by the Jewish leaders.
Jesus
was betrayed by certain individuals in early Palestine. But we must not forget that our sins
led to his arrest, scourging and crucifixion. If you were the only one on earth, your sins alone would
have put him on the cross. Yet at
the same time, if you were the only person in the world he would have died just for you.
The
answer to the reality of our sinfulness and Christ’s gift of salvation is to
grow in holiness. I have already
been inspired to grow in holiness in my own faith and priesthood by Pope
Francis. As he begins his papacy,
may we follow his example to grow in our relationship with God to renounce sin
and serve our brothers and sisters.
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