And they were afraid to ask him about this saying

28 SEPTEMBER (Lk 9,43b-45)

Jesus upturns the messianic idea of his disciples. These expected a glorious, immortal, invincible king, ruler of the people, the bearer onto the earth of the peace of God. Micah’s prophecy about the Messiah of the Lord, however, read separated from the other prophecies and in a literal way, authorized this waiting and hope.

But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace. If Assyria invades our country and treads upon our land, We shall raise against it seven shepherds, eight men of royal rank; And they shall tend the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword; And we shall be delivered from Assyria, if it invades our land and treads upon our borders. The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew coming from the Lord, like raindrops on the grass, Which wait for no man, nor tarry for the sons of men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep; When it passes through, it tramples and tears, and there is none to deliver. Your hand shall be lifted above your foes, and all your enemies shall be destroyed. On that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the horses from your midst and ruin your chariots; I will demolish the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses. I will abolish the means of divination from your use, and there shall no longer be soothsayers among you. I will abolish your carved images and the sacred pillars from your midst; And you shall no longer adore the works of your hands. I will tear out the sacred poles from your midst, and destroy your cities. I will wreak vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not hearkened” (Mi 5,1-14).

Instead, Jesus wants his disciples of all times to read his messianic truth not by separate prophecies, every one of which is made to be worn by a particular character, but by unified, joint prophecies, put in communion with each other, however, made to fit a single person. The Servant of the Lord, God’s Messiah, the Son of man, the One they pierced, the Passover Lamb, the New Temple from whose right side pours the water of salvation, the Rock, the Manna, the Prophet that must come, all belong to the Prince of Peace, to the Twig that must bud from the root of Jesse. This work of unification must always be operated.

And all were astonished by the majesty of God. While they were all amazed at his every deed, he said to his disciples, “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

The Son of Man in Daniel’s vision is the one who receives from the Ancient of days power and glory above all the people, kingdom and country. On the contrary, now Jesus says that he will be delivered to the peoples, to the kingdoms and to the nations of this world. The mystery deepens. How might the most glorious among men ever be the most humiliated, the crucifix, the outcast and the abandoned? Of course, these words sound mysterious to the Apostles.

Those who followed Jesus had a rather modest religious culture. They were not scholars of the sacred page; and those who were, they also studied prophecies in a separate and disjointed way. They could not also unify the two truths in Jesus: Lord of David, Son of David. Only with the fulfillment of all these prophecies in the one person of the Eternal Son of the Father, every word of God on his Christ receives full and perfect light. As Christ Jesus, the Christian must also be the unifier in his life of all prophecies and of all the words of the Gospel. The incurable disease is just this: proceeding by disjoint, separated and in opposition truths.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us this wisdom.