Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, nếu chúng ta muốn biết Thiên Chúa đã đối xử với tội lỗi của nhân loại và trình trạng tội lỗi của chúng ta như thế nào, chúng ta hãy nhìn lên tượng Chúa Giêsu chịu nạn. Chúa Giêsu đã gánh chịu tội lỗi của chúng ta qua việc Ngài đã tự hiến Mình, chịu đóng đinhvà chịu chết trên thập giá. Chúa Giêsu là Thiên Chúa, Ngài có địa vị ngang hàng với Thiên Chúa nhưng vì tội lỗi của chúng ta và vì yêu thương chúng ta, Ngài đã xuống thế gian này để làm người phàm như chúng ta để cùng thông phần đau khổ với con người như chúng ta. Ngài thông cảm với những sự yếu kém tội lỗi của chúng ta để cứu chuộc chúng ta khỏi ách nô lệ tội lỗi. Ngài có quyền lực để tha thứ tội lỗi và để khôi phục mối quan hệ giữa chúng ta với Thiên Chúa, vì thế, Ngài đã phải trả một giá rất đắt cho tội lỗi của chúng ta, đó là cái chết nhục nhã trên thập giá.
The message of Our Lord Jesus today clearly reveals his true identity — he is the judge who will decide the fate of all human beings and also the source of life, through whom all the living come into being. How could someone be judge and at the same time the source of living? Are these two compatible? Yes they are.
Jesus, the only just and highest judge, did not come to condemn anyone to death, but to save all human beings by dying on the cross. It is not the Lord who brings eternal death or penalty to anyone, but the person who has freely chosen to die, to deviate from the path of the Lord, to go against the commandment of the Lord. The Lord does not want anyone to perish: rather, he willingly and tirelessly gives life to all for He is the source of life. Therefore, do not lose hope and confidence in the Lord, no matter whatever state you are in, for all that the Lord wants of you is that you live for ever.
Lord, make me understand that Your judgment is that all may live in Your love.
“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.” John 5:25–26
The most central and most glorious mystery of our faith is that of the Most Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God yet three distinct Persons. As divine “Persons,” each one is distinct; but as one God, each Person acts in perfect union with the others. In today’s Gospel, Jesus clearly identifies the Father in Heaven as His Father and clearly states that He and His Father are one. For this reason, there were those who wanted to kill Jesus because He “called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”
The sad reality is that the greatest and most glorious truth of God’s inner life, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, was one of the primary reasons that some chose to hate Jesus and sought His life. Clearly, it was their ignorance of this glorious truth that drove them to this hatred.
We call the Holy Trinity a “mystery,” not because they cannot be known but because our knowledge of Who They are can never be fully understood. For eternity, we will enter deeper and deeper into our knowledge of the Trinity and be “amazed” on a continually deepening level.
One additional aspect of the mystery of the Trinity is that each one of us is called to share in Their very life. We will forever remain distinct from God; but, as many of the early Church Fathers liked to say, we must become “divinized,” meaning, we must share in God’s divine life through our union of body and soul with Christ Jesus. That union also unites us with the Father and the Spirit. This truth should also leave us “amazed,” as we read in the passage above.
As we continue to read this week from the Gospel of John and continue to ponder the mysterious and profound teaching of Jesus on His relationship with the Father in Heaven, it is essential that we not simply gloss over the mysterious language Jesus uses. Rather, we must prayerfully enter the mystery and allow our penetration of this mystery to leave us truly amazed. Amazement and transforming edification is the only good response. We will never fully understand the Trinity, but we must allow the truth of our Triune God to take hold of us and enrichen us, at very least, in a way that knows how much we do not know—and that knowledge leaves us in awe.
Reflect, today, upon the sacred mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Pray that God reveal Himself more fully to your mind and more completely consume your will. Pray that you will be able to share deeply in the life of the Trinity so that you will be filled with a holy amazement and awe.
Most holy and triune God, the love You share within Your very being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is beyond my comprehension. The mystery of Your triune life is a mystery of the greatest degree. Draw me in, dear Lord, to the life You share with Your Father and the Holy Spirit. Fill me with wonder and awe as You invite me to share in Your divine life. Most Holy Trinity, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you are at work bringing all creation to its consummation. You work through your Son and Spirit so that I may share in your eternal rest and divine life. Help me to do the good deeds, empowered by your grace, that lead to the resurrection of life.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Work of the Servant of the Lord: In the First Reading God speaks to the Suffering Servant about his mission and commissions him. The Lord tells the Servant that he has been given as a covenant to the people. This Servant is revealed in the New Testament to be Jesus Christ, who establishes the New Covenant in his blood. Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection will truly restore the land, free those imprisoned by sin, enlighten those in darkness, and give heavenly food and living water to those who hunger and thirst. The people, referred to as Zion, think that the Lord has forsaken them after the fall of David’s Kingdom. But God responds that he does not forget them, nor will he ever forget them, and uses the image of the unchanging love a mother has for her child. God will comfort his people in their exile and show mercy to them despite their sins. In sending his only begotten Son to save us from sin and death, the Lord reveals to us that he “is gracious and merciful.” He is faithful, holy, just, and near to those who call upon him.
2. The First Work of God: In the Gospel, Jesus declares that God is his Father. The works and signs that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accomplishes are in full agreement with the works of the Father. The Son is the Word and Image of the Father and does what he “sees” the Father doing. In the Gospel passage we read, Jesus speaks about two of these divine and fatherly works. The first work concerns the bestowal of life. The Father, Jesus says, has life in himself. He raises the dead and gives life. The Father eternally gives life to the Son. The Son, in turn, gives life to those who believe in the Father and the Son.
3. The Second Work of God: The second work concerns judgment. The Father himself does not judge, but instead has given all judgment to his Son. By becoming man and assuming our human nature, Jesus enters into solidarity with humanity. He can sympathize with our weakness. He understands us and was tested in all things as we are. He undergoes suffering and is transformed by suffering. He became like us in all things but sin and took upon himself the fate of sinful humankind (see A. Vanhoye, A Different Priest, 159-160). Our passage from death to life, our sharing in Christ's passion, death, and resurrection, depends on hearing the voice of the Son and responding to him in faith, as well as doing good deeds through the grace of God. We should recall that the Father sent the Son into the world not to condemn it but to save and redeem it (John 3:16). Those who reject the Father and the Son, those who love darkness rather than light (John 3:19), share in the resurrection of condemnation. Those, on the other hand, who believe in the Father and the Son and do good deeds – meritorious works of love and charity empowered by divine grace – will share in the resurrection of life. To all who receive the Word, to all who believe in his name, the Word gives power to become children of God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are coming to judge the world. You know our weaknesses and struggles. Be merciful to me when you judge me. Help me to repent and turn from sin as I journey toward you and your Father.
Living the Word of God: What good deeds or works of charity am I called to do today? How can I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, or visit the sick today? How can I counsel, instruct, comfort, and forgive today?
Opening Prayer: Lord, open my mind and heart to hear your words of truth. Please give me the grace to hear and obey, to listen and act in everything according to your will.
· Father and Son: Jesus tells us in this Gospel that he cannot do anything on his own. He always keeps his Father as the point of reference for all that he does. His deepest desire is to please God in everything. Christ’s life is not self-referential but reflects the desires of the Father. Just as a son looks to his dad to learn how to live life, asking the questions of “why” and “how,” so Christ looked to his Father before acting. We are called to imitate Christ’s docility and love of the Father by living for Christ above all things. “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
Lạy Chúa Giêsu, Xin cho chúng con được biết yêu thương Chúa nhiều hơn và Xin kết hợp trái tim chúng con với Chúa, Để chúng con chỉ có thể biết tìm kiếm và mong muốn những gì làm đẹp lòng Chúa."
Jesus always speaks about doing the work of the Father. One of the work of the Father is to raise the dead to life, work that Jesus does as well. "The Son gives life to anyone he chooses," Christ says. He will raise us all from death on the last day; but he can also raise us from death during our lifetime. Whenever we sin, we are dead; we have no life inside us. Nonetheless, Christ came to give us life. And how does he do this? Jesus says in this Gospel that the dead who hear the voice of the Son of God will live. We hear his voice whenever the Word of God is proclaimed. Christ invites us to listen to it so we will have life. We truly listen by keeping his Word; and this is what raises us from death.
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