Gospel Reflection For The 13th day of March in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
John 5:17-30
17 But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work. 18 Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God. 19 Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. 22 For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. 23 That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him. 24 Amen, amen I say unto you, that he who heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting; and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life. 25 Amen, amen I say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given the Son also to have life in himself: 27 And he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. 28 Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. 29 And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. 30 I cannot of myself do any thing. As I hear, so I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Again, I am reminded of the message of the Venerable Fulton Sheen, when he explained how wrong it is that so many believe not in the divinity of Christ, but just that He was a very good man. The modernists and secularists want to put Jesus on the same level as the Buddha or one of the great philosophers of history. Unfortunately, many people who even claim to be Christians try to mix His message with communist and socialist politics, focusing only on His teachings regarding charity and ignoring the hard truths of His divinity. Still others, such as the Mormons, claim that Jesus was not born God, but became God by being very holy… and those who follow the LDS church may do the same. For 2,000 years such heresies have risen and fallen. From the Gnostics to the Arians, from philosophies to nationalistic religion, from modernism to insane cults…. The same lies and errors repeat century after century.
Only one institution on earth has held true the divinity of Christ and the fullness of His teachings for 2,000 years; and that, is the Catholic Church. The religious Jews of Jesus’ time could not accept His teaching. To them, His very plain claims of divine power in today’s Gospel were as ridiculous as if your next door neighbor, Bob, walked up to you and claimed be able to rise from the dead, forgive sins and have the full power and authority of God. You would think he was insane! Well, I am sure many of the religious officials did think Jesus insane, and many claimed He was demon possessed. Regardless, under Torah Law He had committed blasphemy and must be put to death.
You see, if the Law of Moses was given by God, it is inerrant. Its penalties are just and fair. If Jesus was merely a man who claimed to be God, He was not a good man at all. He was a very evil man and more than a blasphemer but one who would lead countless millions into sin and hell, convincing them to worship a false God.
But, What if Jesus was telling the truth? What if He is God? That changes everything. If Jesus is God, we must believe everything He said as true. We must live by His commandments. We must obey and be members of the Church He founded and to which He gave His full authority just as in today’s Gospel He says that the Father gave Him authority. That means that our every belief and action must agree with the teachings of God and His Church, or we are wrong. This is not easy, especially in a culture that denies those very moral and religious teachings. It is truly a life’s work and it is very hard, but it begins with each of us and our personal examination of conscience. Simply put, if we believe in the divinity of Christ, that must change everything!
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.