TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s Gospel (Jn 5:17-30) picks up where yesterday’s left off. Jesus reveals much about Himself and His Father, much to the chagrin of the Pharisees:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.” (v. 24)

“The Father has placed judging and giving life in the hands of his Son, and now Jesus speaks about his carrying out these divine prerogatives. He again prefaces his words with a solemn ‘Amen, amen, I say to you,’ assuring his listeners (and readers of John’s Gospel) of the importance of what he is saying. He proclaims that ‘whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life.’ The ‘word’ of Jesus is the word of God: ‘the one whom God sent speaks the words of God” (3:34; see also 12:49-50; 14:24; 17:8). When Jesus says ‘hears my word,’ he uses ‘hears’ in its biblical sense of accepting and heeding (see Deut 6:4). We might have expected Jesus to say ‘Whoever hears my word and believes me,’ but he says whoever hears my word ‘and believes in the one who sent me’ — literally, ‘believes the one who sent me.’ Since Jesus speaks the word of God, to accept his word is to believe God (see 12:44).

“Jesus proclaims that whoever hears his word and believes the one who sent him ‘has eternal life.’ ‘Now this is eternal life, that they should know you , the only true God, and the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ’ (17:3). To know God is to experientially know him as Jesus reveals him; accepting his revelation brings union with God and ‘eternal life.’ The one who believes ‘has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.’ For those drawn into union with God through Jesus, ‘eternal life’ begins now, even if its fullness lies in the future (see 6:54). Come to condemnation means being left in the perishable state of humanity, destined for death (see 3:16-18). Whoever receives eternal life ‘has passed from death to life’ — literally, ‘has been transferred out of death to life.’ These united with God through Jesus have been taken from the realm of death into the realm of eternal life. Even if they die physically , they live eternally (see 11:25-26).” (Bringing the Gospel of John to Life, 136-37)

I chose the particular passage I did because I love it when Jesus is very clear what we mortals are called to believe and live out. Martin, in the extended excerpt above, says, ‘When Jesus says ‘hears my word,’ he uses ‘hears’ in its biblical sense of accepting and heeding.’

Yes, we are to hear the Word of God. But more importantly, we must internalize it and live it

Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees (1850) by James Tissot

God bless.