Commentary on the Gospel of
Missing the Messiah
Between a Master and a disciple, a book can be an obstacle. When Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, an ordinary farmer in an obscure Austrian village refused to take oath of allegiance to Hitler or serve in his army during the World War II, he was arrested, tried, and condemned to death for sedition. A few days before he was guillotined, the prison chaplain visited him and offered the New Testament to him. But Franz politely refused the Bible saying, “I am completely bound in inner union with the Lord, and any reading would only interrupt my communication with my God.” The Temple officials of Jesus’ time missed the Messiah because they had their heads buried in the Scriptures and knew them too well to recognize the Messiah when he walked among them in person.
