THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, Fourth week in Lent
April 2, 2025 - Isaiah 49: 8-15; John 5: 17-30
On our pilgrimage of hope, we are reflecting these days about the reasons that make us celebrate, even amidst this lent; the causes that makes us rejoice even amidst the hardships of life. First we said the Lord gives us new life, yesterday we said the Lord takes us towards wholeness and today we have the culmination of it... eternal life, the experience of salvation which is eternal life. From new life, to wholeness, being born to eternal life: all those who believe in me will have life eternal - that's the promise of the Lord and that is a cause of rejoicing, certainly.
The Gospel today presents to us the tussle between the Jews and Jesus - Jesus who claims that he has the power to raise people from death, just as his Father does. That raising people from the dead, is what we call the perspective of eternal life, that which destroys death and defeats hell. Life eternal is not just a state of not dying, it is a perspective. It is the whole way of living that is spoken of here, not merely about dying.
We can draw from today's Word, at least three indications of eternal life. The first indication is that we come from the Lord and the Lord never abandons us; we belong to the Lord: the first reading outlines this. We have nothing to fear, not even death, because the Lord never forgets us, not even if our own mothers do forget us.
Secondly, God has given us God's only Son, that we have eternal life. What else can come against us , or who? Apart from the very fact that we share the image and likeness of God, we have been "saved" by God - that experience of salvation is the promise of God's eternal existence, an offer that God makes us. However, it depends on us to take it or not, after all it is an offer, and never a compulsion.
Thirdly, the way to behold the offer of eternal life, Jesus teaches us - is to listen to the Word, believe in the one who has sent the Word to us, and do the will of the One who has sent us! All the lenten practices are pointed to this ultimate growth expected of us. Jesus identified himself with the Father and that was why he never feared anyone who stood against him - for us too, that is the indication: that we identify ourselves with our source, that is God! That is the true perspective of eternal life!