Where did this man get all this?

Gn 1,26-2,3 opp. Col 3,14-15.17.23-24; Ps 89; Mt 13,54-58
1 MAY

Holy Scripture, both in the Old Testament and in the New, is a true inexhaustible mine in which to draw all divine light to walk in history, discerning what comes from God and what comes from man, what is darkness and what is light, what is true and what is false, what gives death and what gives life. If we separate ourselves from Scripture we will necessarily separate ourselves from the mine of light and man walks in darkness and falsehood. He will lack all sound discernment. It is an eternal and immortal truth that the flesh, that is the pure humanity, can operate nothing concerning true salvation. For a man to be an instrument of God he must be taken by God and filled with the Holy Spirit, wisdom, grace, truth, life, holiness and all justice by him. The Lord always promised that his Christ, his Messiah would have been filled with the Holy Spirit. Not only does the prophet Isaiah prophesy the fullness of the Spirit on the root of Jesse, but Jesus himself proclaims the fulfilment of the prophecy.

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbours, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious (Is 11,1-10).

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4,16-21).

Whoever knows the Scriptures, who is in their truth might never be scandalized if the smallest, weakest, most insignificant, poor, wretched and humble man is chosen and constituted by God an instrument of his salvation and redemption. Those of Nazareth cannot be scandalized just because Jesus – as it was believed – is the son of a carpenter. Before then of a carpenter, Jesus is true Son of God. This truth can also be ignored. But one must not ignore that wisdom in a man comes from God. Was not Solomon filled with wisdom only by grace? Why then can Jesus not be filled?

When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there. He came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and in his own house.” And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

The right knowledge of Scripture gives us the sound truth, the sound truth gives us the true faith, true faith offers us the right discernment, the right discernment makes us know or see God in every man he assumes as his instrument in the gift and in the work of salvation. Today we are without true knowledge of Scripture, we are without Christ.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that we find the true Christ of the Gospel, of Scripture.