Looking For Jesus?

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟐𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐇𝐚𝐠 𝟏:𝟏-𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟒𝟗:𝟏-𝟔, 𝟗 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟗:𝟕-𝟗

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎.” (𝒗.9) 

Celebrities, politicians, prominent businessmen, achievers, or just about anyone who is in the news except perhaps those involved in shady deals often draw attention to themselves. And it’s natural because human beings are social beings meaning that at some point in time each one of us is expected to relate to another and even those who have already made a name for themselves make it a habit to be seen in the company of not only their peers but those with whom they share equal status in life.

         And Herod was no different. He was supposed to be the king but somehow, he heard of Jesus whose popularity and influence was slowly becoming a threat not only to his fiefdom but even to the Roman colonizers.

         The last verse (𝐯.𝟗) in this short Gospel passage of today tells us that Herod Antipas tried to see Jesus who was with his disciples traveling throughout Galilee preaching and healing at the same time. Herod was also known as the Tetrarch meaning the fourth part, as he was made the ruler of the regions of Galilee and Perea.

         The interest of Herod was in some way similar to the interest of Herod the Great at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem but this time the interest of Herod Antipas was not so much out of fear but of curiosity and, probably out of guilt for the beheading of John the Baptist.

         This anxiety of Herod was also borne out of the conflicting claims on the identity of Jesus that he heard. Some news that Herod received said Jesus was perhaps Elijah  (𝐯.𝟖) whom the Jews have also been waiting for to announce the coming of their savior.

         But what must have troubled Herod was the news that Jesus could be John the Baptist who “𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅” (𝒗.7) and what was perplexing for Herod was that he himself ordered the beheading of John the Baptist.

         It was probably this guilt that Herod had in his consciousness that he wanted to see Jesus. This is also true for many people who are haunted by their guilt and most often the guilt that they carry affects the way they relate to others.

         Herod loved to listen to the prophetic words spoken by John the Baptist and the only thing that he didn’t like was when the prophet started speaking against his illicit relationship with Herodias who was previously married to his brother Philip.

         This time, Herod also wanted to see Jesus and listen to his teachings because news of the ministry of Jesus has already reached the ears of Herod, and he probably wanted to know for himself if Jesus was indeed a resurrected John the Baptist or the great prophet Elijah.

         Herod, however, was not able to see Jesus because there was no more account that he did meet Jesus except in 𝑳𝒌 23:6-8 “𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎…”        

Besides the interest of Herod in Jesus that was borne out of his guilt in beheading John the Baptist, another significant point in this Gospel was the difficulty the Jews had in accepting Jesus as the Son of God and this was the reason why the Jews came out with conflicting versions as to the identity of Jesus.

         Some said he was John the Baptist who has resurrected, and some said he was Elijah who did not die but who “𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅” (2 𝑲𝒈𝒔 2:11). Except for Peter who accepted and confessed to the true identity of Jesus (𝑴𝒕 16:16) “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒐𝒅” the Jews particularly the Chief Priests and the Pharisees never accepted Jesus for what he was.

         There was a reason for it because if they were to do so, they would have to give up many of their religious beliefs as well as the laws they have drawn which, according to Jesus, had only stifled the relationship between God and the chosen people.

         For many people today, there is still some difficulty in accepting Jesus as fully human born of the Virgin Mary and as the divine Son of God. Like the Pharisees, there are those in the world today who cannot accept Jesus because of the duality in their lives.

         As there are no ifs and buts when it comes to salvation, we all must make a decision to know who Jesus is and what he is to us. And many times, we run into a wall in our relationship with Christ even if we know that he is the door through which we have to pass to get to the Kingdom of Heaven because of our misplaced priorities in life.

         What we should keep ingrained in our hearts is that it’s either we are in and with Jesus or we are not. And we need to step out and take that leap of faith and be filled with the Grace of God that will free us from the tyranny of fear and sin and will enable us to reject what is wrong and choose what is good.

         For it is only when we are filled with Grace that we can truly recognize who Jesus is. “𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆” is a theological statement which simply means that while Grace is given to all without prejudice, we will only benefit from it if we will allow our nature – our own entire being – to subordinate our human will to the Will of God.

         And this is founded on Christ’s command in 𝑱𝒏 13:34-35 for us to “𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑨𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 25, 2025)