Wednesday
of the 4th Week of Lent
March 18, 2015 6:30am
In today’s gospel, Jesus keeps
talking about God the Father and himself as the Son.
It almost sounds as if he is
repeating himself.
What it all adds up to is that
there is a oneness between the almighty, transcendent God and Jesus.
This quickly becomes one of the
points for which Jesus is put to death.
That is why this passage is read
during Lent, prior to Holy Week and Good Friday.
For us, this truth is the core of
our faith.
John’s gospel repeatedly
emphasizes Jesus as the Son of God, or one with or equal to God.
On the one hand, Jesus is like us
in all things but sin.
He shares our humanity fully.
He feels joy and satisfaction as
well as grief and anger.
But on the other hand, Jesus is
God-made-flesh.
We do not understand how this is
possible.
But the entire New Testament –
the gospel of John and the other 23 books – are all consistent on this point.
God is one of us.
Or to put it the other way
around, one of us is God.
That wedding of humanity and
divinity in Jesus gives an unthinkable possibility to us.
Through our communion with Jesus,
we now can share in the divinity of God.
This is our faith.
This is what we celebrate every
time we celebrate Eucharist.
This is what our reception of
Eucharist enhances and deepens for us.
