51 — THE DOCTRINE OF JESUS

Presence of God. — O Lord, I come to Your feet, eager to hear Your doctrine, which is the doctrine of eternal life.

Meditation

1 — The truths that Jesus teaches are so important, so essential, that to know them or not, to place faith in them or not, is a question of life or death; His is not an optional doctrine, but one so necessary that without it one cannot attain eternal life. “Whoever believes in Him has eternal life... but whoever does not believe is judged because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3, 16 and 18). Before the truths that Jesus teaches, all other truths are deficient.

And precisely because His doctrine is absolutely indispensable, Jesus, to help our weakness in believing it, proved its truth by miracles. To the obstinate and blind Jews who did not want to believe in Him, He said: “The works that the Father has given me to accomplish, these works that I do, bear witness concerning me” (Jn. 5, 36). And when the Baptist’s disciples went to ask Him whether He was the Messiah in whom they should believe, Jesus simply said: “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise” (Mt. 11, 4 and 5). Almost always the Gospel, narrating the prodigies worked by Jesus, concludes with expressions like these: “and His disciples believed in Him” (Jn. 2, 11), “all were amazed and glorified God” (Mk. 2, 12). Jesus is the only Master who can guarantee with miracle the truth of His doctrine.

2 — Jesus wants His doctrine to be understood by everyone, even by the simple and the unlearned; indeed, He is keen to say that in a particular way He came to evangelize the poor. Jesus is not a Master who seeks glory and applause; He seeks only the good of His disciples. He uses simple language that everyone can understand and makes use of the humblest and most common things to teach the most sublime truths, as, for example, when He takes the water of the well as a starting point to speak of the living water of grace, or the vineyards of the fields to explain the mystery of our union with Him, the true vine. Jesus does not wait to be sought out, but is a Master who Himself goes in search of disciples and seeks them everywhere: at the tax collectors’ table, in the houses and gatherings of publicans, on the roads, in the squares, in the countryside; He preaches in the synagogues and at the gate of the temple, as from Peter’s boat or from the grassy slopes of the mountains; He receives Nicodemus at night and stops at the well of Sychar precisely to await the Samaritan woman.

Jesus sets forth His doctrine in a way suited not only to the mentality and needs of the crowds of Palestine, but also to those of all future generations; therefore His word is always living, current, answering the needs of every time and every person.

Before His teaching there are two ranks. Proud and obstinate hearts, who did not want to believe even the most astounding miracles; of them Jesus said: “If I had not come and spoken, they would have no sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin” (Jn. 15, 22); and upright hearts, sincerely desirous of the truth, who welcomed His word with faith and love.

Jesus rejoiced over this and said: “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the learned and the wise and have revealed them to little ones” (Mt. 11, 25).

Colloquy

“Lord my God, how true it is that You have words of life in which men, if they wish, find everything they desire! But what a wonder, Lord, that we consign them to forgetfulness, benumbed by the madness and languor caused in us by our evil deeds!... What is this, Lord? What profound blindness! We seek happiness where it is impossible to find it. Do You not see, Lord, that we do not understand ourselves, that we do not know what we desire, and do not succeed in finding what we ask for? Give us light, Lord! See, it is more necessary for us than for the man born blind, because the blind man, Lord, desired to see and could not, while we refuse to see.

“You alone, Lord, teach us the truth, show us the way of salvation. O unhappy us! They are truths we know and believe, but accustomed for so long not to consider them, they appear so strange to us that we almost no longer know them, nor do we want to know them.

“Grant, Lord, that Your words may never be erased from my mind” (T.G. Es. 8, 1 and 2; 13, 2).

What will it profit me to know all sciences if I do not know You and the truths You came to teach us? Grant, O Jesus, that I may not be content with superficial knowledge, but give me the light and understanding needed to penetrate the profound meaning of Your teachings. More than by reasoning and subtle investigations, Your word is understood through humility, love, and a living desire for You. Create in me, O Lord, an upright, humble, sincere heart, capable of loving and penetrating Your divine words.