Mc 11,27-33 – Friday of the VIII Week of Ordinary Time
«With what authority do you do these things?». It is the question that the high priests, scribes and elders ask Jesus in today’s Gospel. But Jesus does not answer directly. He counters with another question: was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? It is not a discussion between sophists nor a dialectical game. Jesus is unmasking a very precise attitude: that of those who ask big questions without being willing to accept big answers.
In fact, his interlocutors do not sincerely seek the truth. Rather, they are looking for a way to put Jesus in difficulty without ever questioning themselves. That’s why they get stuck. Today’s Gospel teaches us something important: we cannot truly understand God without inner honesty. Whoever reads reality unfairly, those who live a prisoner of their own prejudice or his own interest, he will hardly be able to open up to the mystery.
Faith is not a question of refined intelligence, but of sincerity of the heart. Jesus himself will say elsewhere that God reveals himself to little ones. Not to the naive, but to those who have a free and available gaze. Very often we do not see God not because He is hidden, but because we look at everything through the glasses of our prideof our fears or of our already fixed ideas. The mystery of God is not an enigma built to confuse us. It is a presence that can be recognized by those who have their eyes truly open.
This is why today’s Gospel invites us to ask ourselves with what attitude do we seek God. If we really want the truth or just confirm what we have already decided. Because only an honest heart can realize that God, very often, is simpler than we imagine.
