Sr. Ephrem Hollermann asks, “What is really going on with Jesus in today’s Gospel?” She goes on to write that the Jews become angry with this teaching, for they thought he was no more than a young man from Nazareth, a place too ordinary to produce a messiah. Sensing the growing hostility, Jesus reacted like a hunted man. Jesus did not accompany his family to Jerusalem; instead, he followed them alone in secret. So what’s up with that? He traveled secretly, then spoke openly without fear in the Temple: “Because I am from him, he sent me.” So, what is going on with Jesus here? Quite simply, it was a struggle between fear for his life and a passionate sense of mission. Jesus could not be who God sent him to be by giving in to fear. He simply could not remain silent. Not without a certain irony, Jesus refers to the superficial knowledge these Jews had of him: however, he asserts that he comes from the Father who has sent him, whom only he knows, precisely because he is the Son of God. Fr. Paul Philibert writes that today’s Scriptures prepare us for the coming drama of Jesus’ hour. When that hour comes, heaven will embrace the earth, and the Son of God will pour his redeeming blood over humanity. We have had six weeks—indeed, our entire lives—to prepare ourselves for that hour, to understand it, to ponder it, and to be transformed by it. His “hour” will also be our “hour,” since he has invited us to follow him and to share in the sacrifice he offers for our salvation.