Thursday, April 7, 2011

Isa 53, 1 Who would believe what we have heard?

(Isa 53, 1) Who would believe what we have heard?

[1] Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

(CCC 591) Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the Father's works which he accomplished (Jn 10:36-38). But such an act of faith must go through a mysterious death to self, for a new "birth from above" under the influence of divine grace (Cf. Jn 3:7; 6:44). Such a demand for conversion in the face of so surprising a fulfilment of the promises (Cf. Isa 53:1) allows one to understand the Sanhedrin's tragic misunderstanding of Jesus: they judged that he deserved the death sentence as a blasphemer (Cf. Mk 3:6; Mt 26:64-66). The members of the Sanhedrin were thus acting at the same time out of "ignorance" and the "hardness" of their "unbelief" (Cf. Lk 23 34; Acts 3: 17-18; Mk 3:5; Rom 11:25, 20).

No comments: