The Source of Life. Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent

Breakfast with the Word: Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent

 

John 5:17-30

 

The Source of Life

 

In life, we need some basic things to survive. Without these basic necessities, our lives will seriously be in trouble. 

 

Every human being needs air to breathe, water to drink and food to eat. These are necessities to sustain life. When we deprive ourselves of these necessities, we also put ourselves in deep trouble, no one can survive without them. 

 

But in Genesis 3:3, after the creation of Adam and Eve God commanded them not to eat the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said “You to them “you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.

 

Then after the fall, Adam and Eve never suffered any physical death immediately, they still lived for many years. Rather, they lost that glorious position they were enjoying before. That spiritual bliss was deprived of them. 

 

Therefore, when we talk about life here, we try to distinguish between spiritual life and physical life. We need air, water, food, shelter etc as the necessities to sustain our physical lives.

 

But when it comes to the spiritual life, which is the most important, we have only one source. And any soul who is deprived of this source loses the true life. The true life is not the physical life, for the physical life is temporary. It will end here. 

 

 

Therefore, the spiritual life is the true life. It is the life that leads to eternity. You may have everything you want in this world and enjoy any form of pleasure you need, but when it comes to true life, we discover that we have been wasting our physical lives all these years. 

 

The physical life ends here, but the spiritual life leads us to the world beyond. We can only acquire this true life, not through our wealth, positions or any other thing but our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the true source of life. A life without Jesus is a mess. 

 

 

Read More

 

Do we Really Want to be made Well

 

Signs that You have Faith in God

 

When the Prodigal Son returns to the Prodigal Father

 

 

The Gospel Continues

 

 

The gospel of today follows from that of yesterday. After Jesus healed a man in the pool of Bethsaida and asked him to carry his mat and go on the sabbath day. 

 

 

The Jews knowing that Jesus was the person who instructed the man to carry his mat and goes, felt that Jesus was going against the law of the sabbath.

 

 As a scholar puts it, Jesus is telling them what to do. Imagine someone who is not an expert in law giving orders on something that concerns the sabbath.

 

So, the Jews were very angry with Jesus and then began to plan on how to eliminate Him. In verse 16 of this chapter John 5, we will see that the Jews because of this begin to harass Jesus.

 

 

 So, today’s gospel is Jesus’ answer to them. Jesus said to them “ ‘My Father is still working, and I am at work too’.

 His response infuriated the Jews more who were now more intent on killing him, because, not only that Jesus was breaking the sabbath, Jesus is speaking of God as his own Father. So, they attack him because He made Himself equal to God.

 

 The point here is that the Jews are yet to know who Jesus is. They took Him as one of their kinsmen or a great prophet and not as the messiah.

 

 

 Secondly, as we proceed towards the end of the lent, the readings will begin to reveal what led the Jews to crucify Jesus. So, today’s pericope is one of them. One of the reasons they want to eliminate Jesus is because they feel He breaks their sabbath and makes himself equal to God. 

 

 

In application, this also happens to us when we don’t truly understand who somebody is. We believe in hearsay and use what we hear to conclude or even fight the person. It is good to know who somebody is before we conclude. 

 

 

Also, like the Jews, many of us are yet to understand who Jesus is. We need to be closer to Him to understand Him more. When we know who He is, we will take Him as very important to our spiritual lives.

 

We will know that the way to eternal life, the way to enjoy eternal bliss is only through Jesus. He says in John 6:47-48 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. So, the source of life is Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

Jesus as the Source of Life.

 

 

  As the discussion was going on, Jesus said to them, “I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too. Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses”.

 

 

By saying this, Jesus made it emphatically known that He is the true source of life. Therefore, if we want our spiritual lives to change, we have to come through Jesus.

 

 

 If we want to grow in spirituality, we need more closeness with Jesus and if we need eternal life, it is only through Jesus. Jesus is the source of true life.

 

The source of life is our beloved redeemer. He says in John 6:35 “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”.

 

 

When We listen and believe.

 

 

During the temptation of Jesus, the devil says to Jesus “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

 Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ 

 

 

Therefore, by saying this, Jesus refers to His word as the secret of the life he has been talking about. 

So, when we listen to His words, live on them and believe in them, good things must come out of it. When we live on them all through our lives, we are sure of eternal life. 

 

 

He says in John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Therefore, when we listen to His words and believe in Him, we will have life and have it in abundance. In the gospel, Jesus tells the Jews “whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life”. 

 

 

Jesus says in this gospel, that this is the only way one can die without being brought to judgement. He will pass from death to life. Even the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live. 

 

Because the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life. Therefore, Jesus is the source of life. Let us always listen to His words. Let us seek the source of true life. In Him, we shall find salvation at the end.

 

 

Life is not about pleasure. Life is not about acquiring material things. Also, life is not in all these things we keep dragging and killing ourselves in the world.

 

 After we have acquired all of them, we shall still depart from the world. Life is only in Jesus. The source of life is in the one we have forsaken. We have forsaken the lord but we shall still meet Him on the last day. 

 

 

 

Therefore, let us seek to be close to Jesus and listen to his words. This is the best life that can lead even to eternity. 

May God bless you dearest and give you the grace to live a holy life. May all your efforts never be in vain. Amen