REFLECTIONS TODAY

In Jerusalem, Friday early afternoon is rush hour. The marketplace is full of people doing their last-minute shopping before sundown that signals the beginning of the Sabbath. Then the city is still; the Jews have begun their weekly rest. As commanded by Scripture, no one lifts a finger to work. 
No wonder, the Jews were critical of Jesus when they saw him break the Sabbath! Who works on the Sabbath?

Even if God rested on the Sabbath, the Jews acknowledged that God does not really stop working even on the Sabbath. Creation continues, for babies continue to be born, and judgment happens, for men and women die also on the Sabbath. 

Yes, God is at work — always! Now comes Jesus, healing on the Sabbath and proclaiming that like the Father, he is also at work, a way of saying that he is the Son of the Father, that he too is God! These words of Jesus are a consoling assurance that even if we are called to rest, he and the Father continue their saving work for us.
 

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.”

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.