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swer at that time. Instead, Jesus waits until he is “under oath before the living
God” (Matt. 26: 63) at his trial before the Sanhedrin. He then speaks the answer
they needed to justify his execution. Jesus in effect identifies himself as the “the
Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power” in such a way that “the high
priest” tears his robes” and declares,“He has blasphemed!” (Matt. 26: 64- 65.)
Why did Jesus’ wait until that trial to declare formally that he is the Messiah
(Mk. 14: 61-62)? From Gospel references to and statements by Jesus such as “My
hour has not yet come” (Jn. 2:4) and “The hour has come…” (Jn. 12:23), I believe
Jesus, prompted by the Spirit, sensed there was a time to deflect, a time to wait,
and a time to answer. Jesus’ sensed that waiting was necessary to conform his
will to that of his Father’s divine providential timing to which Jesus then submit-
ted in dying and rising. Jesus Christ is waiting, in submission to the Father’s will,
until he comes a second time on “a day and an hour no one knows, neither the
angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matt: 24:36.) Jesus makes
sacred the waiting until the right time, the time that carries out the will of the
Father.
Prayer
Father, your son, who is present to us at Mass in the Minister, theWord, the Eu-
charist, and the Assembly, waits with us and in us for his Second Coming,We are
blessed in our holy waiting with Jesus Christ, as Our Lady of Guadalupe was
blessed by the child within her and for whom she was waiting, and we pray in
his name for discernment of your heavenly will and for courage as disciples of
the one with whom and for whom we wait in joyful hope.
_______
Phil Argento
Parishioner