The shadow of Good Friday falls upon the readings today. Jesus does not want to travel openly with his companions to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, because the authorities want to kill him. The depth of this hatred is captured in the Wisdom passage: “…he is obnoxious to us…let us condemn him to a shameful death.” Yet, Jesus makes the journey, although secretly. The burden of such animosity must have weighed heavily upon Jesus, but it does not keep him from his mission: revealing the truth of a loving God. Our loving God offers us freedom from the burden of animosity: whether self-directed or toward others. Jesus, we pray to be freed from whatever blinds us to the goodness and beauty in others and in ourselves.