Gospel Reading for April 2, 2025 – John 5: 17-30
BENEFIT
Jesus answered the Jews: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.
Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 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. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.
“I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
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Surely, when the Father sent his Son to the world, he knew this would happen. He knew that Jesus would be accused of blasphemy because if he claimed that God was his father, then, he was making himself equal to God, and death was the punishment for this. But, despite this very big risk, the BENEFIT outweighed the risk. God had to reveal himself to us through his Son Jesus, and even if he had to die on the cross for this, he was sure to be victorious at the Resurrection which will set all of us free when we follow him.
The New Testament is very rich with the teachings of Jesus. It has everything for us to know how to follow him and how to BENEFIT from his Resurrection. How truly blessed are we who have come to know Jesus, thereby knowing the Father too! How truly blessed are we to be given a chance to be with God in eternity!
Let us ponder on this song written by Sr. Suzanne Toolan, RSM, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE –
I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall not hunger.
He who believes in me shall not thirst.
No one can come to me
unless the Father draw him.
And I will raise him up,
and I will raise him up,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
The bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world,
and he who eats of this bread,
he shall live for ever,
he shall live for ever.
Unless you eat
of the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink of his blood,
and drink of his blood,
you shall not have life within you.
I am the resurrection.
I am the life.
He who believes in me
even if he die,
he shall live for ever.
Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Christ,
the Son of God,
who has come
into the world.
And I will raise him up,
and I will raise him up,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
