Has not the scripture said that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem?
FIRST READING
(Jeremiah 11.18-20)
I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah cried out in anguish:
18 It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!”
20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
(Psalm 7.1-2, 8bc-9, 10-11)
(R.1a)
Response: Lord, my God, I take shelter in you.
1 O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2 or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
8 Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God.
10 God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
GOSPEL
(John 7.40-53)
Jesus had been teaching in the temple at Jerusalem.
40 When the people heard his words, some in the crowd said,
“This is really the prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.”
But some asked,
“Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?
42 Has not the scripture said
that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem,
the village where David lived?”
43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them,
“Why did you not arrest him?”
46 The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”
47 Then the Pharisees replied,
“Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?
48 Has any one of the authorities
or of the Pharisees believed in him?
49 But this crowd, which does not know the law—
they are accursed.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before,
and who was one of them, asked,
51 “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing
to find out what they are doing, does it?”
52 They replied,
“Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?
Search and you will see
that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”
