Reflection for April 2 Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent: John 5:17-30

Gospel: John 5:17-30

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 answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.  

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.  

And he gave him power to exercise judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.  

“I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

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Reflection:

Do you believe that Jesus and the Father are one? The critics of Jesus did not believe in this oneness of the Father and the Son because their mindset was based on human understanding, which is always subject to limitations.

What separates us from the critics of Jesus in our Gospel? We believe in the oneness of the Father and the Son. We believe because we have faith—faith that is not limited to what our eyes can see and our ears can hear.

If our faith is confined only to what we can see and hear, then it is not true faith, because deep faith requires believing even without seeing. Through our faith in both the Father and the Son, we are able to discover many truths about our Catholic faith. We also grow in faith and deepen our knowledge of our universal Church.

Perhaps some of us may ask, Why am I not growing in faith? The answer is that we may lack something—perhaps it is our faithful adherence to the teachings of our universal Church.

For example, we may lack adherence to the indissolubility of the Sacrament of Matrimony, the sanctity of human life, the healing and cleansing value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and many other teachings of our Catholic faith. We will certainly not grow in faith if we do not believe in these teachings.

Do you believe in the oneness of the Son and the Father? And do you also believe in and practice the teachings of our Catholic faith?—Marino J. Dasmarinas