Each Sunday we hear the Word of God, the Sacred Scripture. The first reading is usually taken from the Old Testament, the second reading is usually a reading from a letter of St. Paul and there is always a reading from a Gospel. We stand for the proclamation of the Gospel as a sign of reverence and veneration. We are called to show the same veneration for the Word of God as we show for the Body of Christ.
“The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body.” (Dei verbum, #21)
We “venerate” the Word of God not only by listening with attention but also by striving to live the witness and teaching of Jesus in our daily life.
In today’s Gospel Jesus upbraids his hearers for their failure to hear and accept the witness or testimony of the Old Testament (Moses) and of his own words (Gospel):
“For if you had believed Moses [Torah], you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
In today’s Gospel passage Jesus talks about multiple witnesses who “testify” about him. He refers to the testimony of John the Baptist and the testimony of the “works” or “signs” that the Father gave him. These miracles “testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.” Finally, Jesus teaches that the Scriptures also “testify” to him: “You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.”
Today as we hear the Word of God let it be for us words of both comfort and challenge. Last Sunday’s Word of God invited us to discover anew a God who is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4) and who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes…might have eternal life.” (John 3:16). These words both comfort us and challenge us to “testify” to God’s love and mercy by showing that same love and mercy to each person we meet.
Image: “Torah” by Lawrie Cate is licensed under CC BY 2.0.