Novelty always arouses curiosity. Certainly, some are led by the new; others are satisfied, but leave it at that; still others are happy,

 

Novelty always arouses curiosity. Certainly, some are led by the new; others are satisfied, but leave it at that; still others are happy, but only see it as another event in history; others, in short, do not give it any value. The truth is that, in the case of Jesus, through his words of wisdom, the miracles he performed, his human and divine way of serving people, his authority in teaching, and his very person, he enchanted those who approached him. In him, the yearnings of Israel found the fulfillment of the expected future. In fact, he was the one to whom the promise led.

2. In a second moment, Jesus announces the Passion. Once again, Jesus touches on the subject of death, and this disconcerts those who are attached, firstly to the idea of ​​a glorious messiah, and then to the novelties of power, name, fame, and success. Dying is a sign of weakness, defeat, the end of hope. If many were seeing in Jesus the fulfillment of the promise of the Old Testament, then seeing him now saying that he will surrender himself to death is seen as treason, since they believed in a glorious, triumphalist, powerful Jesus, capable of fighting against the Roman emperor and expelling all his dominion in Israel; He would be the lord of the known world, He would make Israel an empire never before seen and incapable of being destroyed. To say that he will die is the same as saying that he is nothing, that he is nothing more than a failure. In fact, not even his disciples understood, because they shared the same ideas of his time. A strong example of this is Judas Iscariot, who because of his objective, never converted to Jesus, never changed his opinion and always fought in favor of the revelation of a political, powerful and triumphalist Messiah. In fact, it was up to the disciples in particular to make the connection between Dn 7,13 (from which we can draw an image of Jesus as transcendent and celestial) and Is 53,8 (Jesus as "Servant"). Both images are even inserted into the historical reality of Jesus: one in a visible way, the other through signs.

3. Only in the light of the Holy Spirit, after the Resurrection of Jesus, were the disciples able to understand the meaning of Jesus as a Servant and, at the same time, a celestial being, more precisely, LORD. The experience they had with Jesus was very powerful, so much so that, even though they were cowards before the cross, with the resurrection, they gave up their "little lives" and returned to the Master and threw themselves completely into their mission, without fear of the cross, of persecution and of everything that could happen to them. They understood that before reaching glory, they need to go through the cross, that there is no resurrection without passion, without pain. Perhaps today many want glory before suffering, before constant struggle, but this is just fantasy, the illusion of those who have not yet found the truth and are not concerned with the good in fact. To reach the top of a mountain, you have to climb it. Courage, that is the word for those who want to win; hope, the word for those who want to continue.

A strong and affectionate hug.