THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Wednesday in the fourth week of Lent, 2021

Isa 49:8-15

Ps 30

John 5:17-30

In yesterday’s gospel reading, Jesus asked the paralyses man ‘Do you want to be well again?’ Jesus is often portrayed in the gospels as probing what it is that people really want.

At the very end of this morning’s gospel reading (Jn 5:17-30), Jesus declares what it is that he wants. He says, ‘My aim is to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me’. Jesus is saying that he wants what God wants and that his will is in perfect harmony with God’s will. He expresses this deep desire within him in a different way at the beginning of this morning’s gospel reading when he declares that the Son, ‘can do only what he sees the Father doing’. As the Father gives life to all who are open to receive it, so too does the Son.

Our calling is to be in perfect harmony with Jesus, as Jesus was in perfect harmony with his Father. We are to want what Jesus wants, to do what Jesus does, so as to become his presence to others, as Jesus was the Father’s presence to others. As Jesus witnessed to the Father, we are to witness to Jesus. It is a noble and challenging calling.

We can only begin to respond to it if, in the words of the gospel reading, we listen to Jesus’ words, we hear the voice of the Son of God and allow that word to shape and mold us. Then we too can begin to be life-giving in the way Jesus was and is.

Let us pray : Lord Jesus, increase my love for you and unite my heart and will with yours, that I may only seek and desire what is pleasing to you. Amen.

+Remain blessed