30TH MARCH 2022
First reading Isaiah 49:8-15
Responsorial Psalm 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18
Gospel Jn 5:17-30
GOD USES WATER TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF HIS HEALING MESSAGE
Jesus answered the Jews: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
Jesus explains the profound meaning of the healing of the paralytic. Criticized by the Jews for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus answers, “My Father still goes on working, and I am at work too!” The Jews taught that no work could be done on the Sabbath because even God had rested and had not worked on the seventh day of creation (Ex 20:811). Jesus affirms the contrary. He says that the Father has always worked even until now. And for this reason, Jesus also works, even on the Sabbath. He imitates His Father! For Jesus, the work of creation is not finished as yet. God continues to work, unceasingly, day and night, holding up the universe and all of us.
Jesus collaborates with the Father in continuing the work of creation in such a way that one day all may be able to enter into the eternal rest that has been promised. The reaction of the Jews was violent. They wanted to kill Jesus for two reasons: because He denied the sense of the Sabbath and for saying that He was equal to God.
The relationship between Jesus and the Father is that Jesus the Son lives permanently attentive before the Father. What He sees the Father do, He does also. Jesus is the reflection of the Father. He is the face of the Father! This total attention of the Son to the Father makes it possible for the love of the Father to enter totally into the Son and through the Son, carry out His action in the world. The great concern of the Father is that of overcoming death and giving life. It is a way of continuing the creative work of the Father.
The Father is reflected in Jesus. "I can do nothing on my own; I can only judge as I am commanded to judge, and my judgment is just because I desire to accomplish the will of Him who sent Me, not my own."
Jesus always does what His Father wants Him to do. Then Jesus proves his equality with the Father by doing some works that are the exclusive works of God Who is
His Father. For example, it is God’s prerogative to raise the dead, and give life, and Jesus exercises these prerogatives. Jesus has received Divine power from the Father to exercise His judgment and authority over life and death.
That is why Jesus’ words bring healing and life to those who believe in the One Who sent Him, and condemnation to those who do not. At the last judgment, all who have heard Jesus’ voice and obeyed his word will be raised to eternal life.
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