Lenten Reflections 2017

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Is 49:8-15
Gospel Jn 5:17-30
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.
Meditation:
How can we see the works of God and still deny the presence of God? It is perhaps because the works of God we see do not conform with our perceptions of the work God should be doing. Why should God heal, bless, forgive a sinner, especially a criminal type?
Jesus answered the Jews: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."
What is the Father's work that the Son is obliged to follow? The answer; his work is to love. In the Greek language, there are three types of love: Eros, which is erotic/romantic love, Philia, brotherly love and Agape which embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends, that serves, regardless of circumstances.
That is the love of God for man: universal, unconditional. That is God's work: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the nature of God: 1 John tells us that God is love.
"My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." What does this mean for us?
In Romans 8:14-17 we are told: "14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him."
If we are children and heirs of God then agape love has to be our work too! That is the challenge of being Christian.
How do I love the unloving or the unlovable? Only in Christ.
"My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."
Peace.