A large number of people (followed)

Heb 7,25-8,6; Ps 39; Mk 3,7-12
24 JANUARY
Jesus has begun his messianic ministry for a few days and from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, from Tire and Sidon many crowds go to Him. What attract this world to Christ are the signs performed by him. In Jesus, the signs are the revelation of the truth of his Person, of his human nature and of his divine nature. The signs manifest the being of Christ. The being of Christ is different from every other being. It is a being that comes from God, it necessarily comes from God. If it did not come from God, it could not make the signs that He does. But if it comes from God, as God is omnipotent, so Jesus is omnipotent. Nothing is impossible to him. He might do also for me what I ask of him. He is omnipotent. He comes from God. He does the works of God. If I touch him, I recover. If I ask, he gives me.

Let us try to apply the truth of Christ to every one of his disciples. Jesus comes from the Father. He says the Word of the Father. He carries out the works of the Father. The disciple comes from Christ. He is obliged to say the Word of Christ, to do the works of Christ. Jesus visibly reveals his being from the Father. The Christian must also reveal visibly, in words and works, that he comes from Christ. It is the obligation of his nature, of his being that not only it is from Christ, but also being in Christ, through Christ and with Christ. If people do not go to the disciple of Jesus it is a sign that it does not see him as a disciple of Jesus. It does not see him in his being, in his actions, in his speech, in his gestures, in his thoughts and in his works. If it does not see him, it does not see him. No artifice might replace nature. We often, rather willingly, want to convince ourselves that artifices can replace nature.

Artifice is hypocrisy. The whole religious world around Jesus was an artificial world. It was a world that not only did not attract to God, it justified the artificial religiosity of the people. On the contrary, it was itself the one who built it, evading God’s Commandments and teaching how it could be avoided. Two paths alone are opened before the disciple of Jesus. Either he decides to transform himself, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, into a Christic nature, ontologically Christic, so as to say the Word of Christ, fulfil the works of Christ, manifest Christ that acts in his heart, in his soul and in his spirit. Or he is only the left with second way. That of building an artificial life, which in turn requires an artificial religion, made up only of human precepts, hypocritically made to be passed as precepts of God. We know that hypocrisy is cultivated only by hypocrites.

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people (followed) from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Hypocrisy rejects, does not attract. In fact, scribes and Pharisees each had their own artificial world to cultivate. They are all against Christ, but divided and separated from each other. United for convenience to defend their hypocrisy, divided to impose everyone his own hypocrisy. The Christian has a very high mission to live. He must show the world that every Word of Jesus is true. Why is it true? Because he has received it in his heart, he lives it all in his body and in his spirit and all his being proclaims his truth. When the disciple and the Word of Jesus are one, then the world sees and runs, sees and seeks, sees and follows. The crowd needs Jesus. It is its Saviour and Redeemer. But it must be able to see him in every one of his disciples. This obligation of attesting to the truth of Christ with his life never fails. It is immortal and timeless. This is true religious freedom: living us the whole Gospel, thus attracting the world to the Gospel. Attracting to the Gospel is necessarily drawn to Christ Jesus. But for this it is necessary that the disciple is ontologically the life of Christ.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help every Christian so that he becomes the life and nature of Christ.