Exodus 32:7-14

Psalm 106

John 5: 31-47

In the gospel of St. John, Jesus makes the claim to be the Son of God, the “One sent by the Father”, the source of all life, and the one who will judge all things. However, there were many false prophets who had come along making the same claims so the people wanted proof. In our gospel today, Jesus references testifying on His own behalf. At the time, the Jewish people would only accept something as true if more than one person could testify to it. Therefore, to get the people to whom He was speaking convinced, Jesus refers to John the Baptist.

Jesus continuously leads us to the Truth, something for which the Jewish people were longing. They spent hours going through scripture and figuring out how that scripture applied to their lives. If the things they were doing each day supported the scripture then they were living the Truth, otherwise they were outside the graces of God and should be punished. John the Baptist provided the people with more of the Truth than what they had understood previously. However, it was not enough for the people.

God is the source of Truth, and only in that Truth will be satisfied, at peace, and ultimately happy. The Pharisees in particular had lost sight of that as they let the Law of Moses get bigger than God. Our challenge is to hear the words of Jesus and then trust Him. That does not mean that we will necessarily like what we hear because it may mean we have to change our ways. Jesus, though asks us to keep trying. Do a daily examine before you go to bed tonight.

Was your day filled with living the Word? What should you have done differently? What do you need to do tomorrow to make sure that happens?

Go smile at God today!