13 MARCH 2024
WEDNESDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Isaiah 49:8-15
Psalm 145
John 5:17-30
Brethren, the image of God we find in this morning’s first reading is that of a loving, caring God, a Mother. This is likened to how a mother cherishes the child of her womb and gives life to her child. But God does more loving, and caring. God cherishes us and works to bring us to the fullness of life. And He guides us to green pastures and springs of water to have our fill. That is the kind of a good Father we have in and as our God. One of the most striking images of God as a mother is to be found at the end of today’s first reading from the prophecy of Isaiah; ‘Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the child of her womb? Yet, even if these forget, I will never forget you’. A mother’s love for the child of her womb is great, tender and life-giving. A mother loves her child as she loves herself because for nine months her child was an integral part of herself, carrying and nourishing the baby all round. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God declares that His love for His people is even stronger and greater than a mother’s love for her child. What again do we need? God's love for us is so great that He sacrificed His Son for us, for He sent His only Son to die for us even while we were still sinners, and have made ourselves His enemies. In return, He wants us to have that kind of sacrificial love for Him, for our neighbours and for the whole of humanity. Are we ready?
There is a very striking statement at the beginning of today’s gospel reading by Jesus: ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I’. This was in response to the religious leaders and the Jews who were critical of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath day. The healing of a man who had been paralyzed for thirty eight years, at a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, as we heard in yesterday's hospel reading, brought about this conversation between Jesus and the Jews. The work that Jesus and his Father are always engaged in is that of giving life to the people, ‘As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses… For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life’. God has given us life through Christ Jesus.
God goes on working through His Son in a way that we will always have life in abundance. It is reassuring to know that God the Father and Jesus go on working to bring life to all. We may not be able to work, for one reason or another. When we do work, we may feel that our work is not bearing any good fruit. Yet, God and His Son never cease to work among us and through us, and they want us also to imitate them. Just as the sun cannot but shine, so God and the Lord Jesus cannot but keep working. Today, the Lord calls on each of us to become the instruments of His labour on behalf of others, to allow Him to work through us for the ultimate well-being of others. If we trust in the Lord, listening to His words, then He will be empowering us daily and working through us, even at those times when we seem incapable of much work.
May God help us with His grace and strength to keep working, especially for the good of others, even for those we have judged as not being fit to benefit from our work and effort. Amen.
-PadreCharlesL'wanga,
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