TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s Gospel (Jn 5:31-47) picks up where yesterday’s left off. Jesus here provides deep theology and a pointed accusation at the Pharisees. He closes with these devastating words:

“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:
the one who will accuse you is Moses,
in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses,
you would have believed me,
because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?” (vv. 45-47)

“he wrote of me: Jesus follows the Jewish tradition that Moses authored the Pentateuch (Gen-Deut). Moses thus described the Messiah as a Redeemer (Gen 3:15), a universal King (Gen 49:10), and a Prophet like himself (Deut 18:15–19).” (The Gospel of John [Ignatius Catholic Study Bible], 28)

“The authorities appealed to the authority of Moses (‘in whom you have placed your hope’) and the Torah to accuse Jesus (see 5:11-18). Yet since the Scriptures are a witness to Jesus (Moses ‘wrote about me’), both the Scriptures and Moses stand on Jesus’ side against his accusers. Scripture bears witness to Jesus, and faith in Jesus opens the way to see this testimony. But on account of their unbelief, the authorities do not fully understand Moses and the Scriptures because they do no see how they bear witness to Jesus. Thus, Jesus concludes, ‘If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?'” (The Gospel of John [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture], 111-12)

“Failure to understand the true import of Scripture is an obstacle to believing in Jesus and coming to him to have life (5:40).” (Bringing the Gospel of John to Life, 150)

I think of typology and the importance of the entire Bible here. It is true, as St. Augustine said, that, “In the Old Testament the New is concealed, in the New the Old is revealed.” We miss so much if we read the New Testament, especially the Gospels, in isolation. Jesus berates the self-described experts in the Law, as missing all the Torah was pointing to: namely Him. Had they seen Jesus as the New Moses, the fulfillment of the Mosaic (and all Old Testament) covenants, they would have put Him on a throne of gold instead of a throne of wood.

God bless.