Today in the Gospel, we see that we have a divided crowd.
We see that this is evident from the last two sentences that we read.
That is, some sought to apprehend our Lord, and while many others believed in Him.
The whole crowd was divided.
They were making judgments.
They were trying to determine, is this the Christ or not?
Where did He get all this learning?
And they were amazed at the wisdom that our Lord spoke.
And our Lord exhorts them,
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.
He's exhorting them to make a correct judgment regarding Himself,
whether He is the Christ or whether He's not.
But He also said earlier that there is a precondition for making the correct judgment about Him.
He says,
If any man will do the will of Him,
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
That is, for those among the Jews who are already doing the will of God,
they will be able to make a correct judgment regarding Jesus Christ.
If they are observing the commandments,
if they are fulfilling the duties of their state of life,
they will have supernatural light
to make a correct judgment.
And yet, our Lord says that none of them are observing the law of Moses.
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?
Why seek you to kill me?
And the multitude answered and said,
Thou hast a devil.
You see, if they're not observing the law,
the commandments, especially the moral law,
if they're not observing them,
if they're not fulfilling their duties according to their state in life,
then as a result, they will make a bad judgment upon who Christ is.
And instead of loving Him, they will hate Him and seek to kill Him.
And they say that He has a devil,
when in fact, the opposite is true.
Each and every one of them, they have a devil
for not observing God's commandments.
And so, this same thing
can be applied to our own time.
That is, everyone must make a decision
with regard to Jesus Christ.
Is He the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world,
in whom I must put my faith,
in whom I must obey in order to be saved?
Or is He not?
Every person is faced with that decision.
And those who are living the commandments,
they're observing the commandments,
or the dictates of upright reason,
the natural law,
they will come to a correct judgment.
But if not, then they will not.
And they will hate Christ.
And they will have a devil.
And so, for ourselves, we should be attentive.
How well are we fulfilling the will of God in our lives?
Observing His commandments,
the duties of our state in life.
The more perfectly we do that,
the greater supernatural light
we will have in our minds.
The better we will be able to perceive the truth
when we hear it.
The better we will be able to discern
the authentic inspirations
the authentic inspirations
of the Holy Spirit when they come.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
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