Let's be men and women who love the Truth
Homily of March 20, 2021
In the Gospels, Jesus often reproached the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, their lack of truth about themselves. But this hypocrisy, the Pharisees still give themselves in the gospel that we have just heard. They want to condemn Jesus without having listened to him. They want to put him to death, quite simply, because he speaks truths that offend them, truths about themselves.
It was Nicodemus who opened their eyes. How can one accuse someone without having heard him? Even if we know that he has committed a fault, there has existed, since the Middle Ages (this was an advance brought about by the ecclesiastical courts) what is called the “presumption of innocence”.
If it was not yet defined as such in the law, it existed at least in human relationships and attitudes: everyone could defend themselves. But Jesus, in the eyes of the Pharisees, did not benefit from this presumption of innocence.
He was condemned because he was inconvenient for them. Fortunately, some in the crowd recognized that he is a man of truth. Sometimes we make the same mistake as the Pharisees: we criticize people without listening to them, without really knowing what motivated their actions.
Jesus asks us, through this passage of the Gospel that we have just heard, to be men who love the truth, men who seek the truth. Let's not condemn people, let's not speak behind them, without knowing their real motives.
