Word to the Wise
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - 4th Week of Lent - Wed
[Isa 49:8-15 and John 5:17-30]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." [John]
In the Gospel According to John, whenever we see the words, "Amen, amen, I say to you...", we can be sure that the statement is very important. Such is the case in the quotation from today's gospel, which follows on the encounter in which Jesus heals a crippled beggar on a sabbath and draws criticism from the Jewish authorities. The broader context is what Jesus' "works" are. His Father is at work in him. But then Jesus goes a step further and says that eternal life begins with faith in "the one who sent me" and in Jesus himself. Scripture scholars refer to this as "realized eschatology," meaning that the final "judgment" takes place when we believe in Jesus and the One who sent him, and not just at death.
This can require us to adjust our way of thinking about how salvation occurs. Is it a reward only at the end of life? It is that, but more than that. It is a way of being in this life as well through faith in Jesus. Jesus refers to both meanings in the discourse from which today's gospel is taken: "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." "Death" means unbelief, but it also can also mean the state of those who have physically died because Jesus then says, "[T]he 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." Whether physically dead or spiritually dead, Jesus is offering life to us all provided we have faith in him. Yes, there will be questions, as always, about how this happens, but the evangelist does not go into detail. Right now, Jesus is "at work" in us and among us. Can we accept that? AMEN