Our Father Loves – Lectio Reflection on John 5:17-30
If you are a parent, your daily prayers likely include a simple request to keep your children and grandchildren safe and at peace. When they visit, they know that your home is a place of comfort and that you will do anything for them. Witnessing countless Spirit-filled actions, we are incredibly blessed that our Father loves his Children. The ultimate gift of His Son’s life and our church communities in recorded millennia can feel surreal. Our church community is a family where the Holy Spirit supports us as the love of the Father and Christ, the comfort of forgiveness, sharing, and the knowledge of receiving the nourishment of God. If you are a leader in a church community or ministry, you are like the Father of Christ, helping transform others into being like Jesus in the here and now.
Jesus Teaches in the Synagogue by James Tissot (full-resolution image of painting).
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
John 5:17-30 – Scripture*
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
The Authority of the Son
19 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Very truly, I tell 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. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27 and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on John 5:17-30 Reflection – Our Father Loves His Children.
Would you like to contribute related thoughts to these Lectio reflections on the Gospel readings? Since Lectio is not the only contemplative prayer style, others might appreciate these types of expressions in this ministry. Do you see God’s grandeur everywhere and unconditionally enjoy sharing the love of Christ that you have inside? Are you willing to be anonymous in what you would share? If so, email me.
Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite worldly distractions.
Attributions
*This site has permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible John 5 passage.
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