2nd April 2020
Thursday of the 5th week of Lent
For today’s Gospel reading click the link below
Mass Readings
Meditation: Do you listen to Jesus’ words as if your life depended on it? Jesus made a claim which only God can make – “if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.” St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), explains this verse from John 8:51:
“It means nothing less than he saw another death from which he came to free us – the second death, eternal death, the death of hell, the death of the damned, which is shared with the devil and his angels! This is the real death; the other kind of death is only a passage” (Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.10-11).
Through Christ God
offers us an unbreakable covenant of love
When God established a relationship with
Abraham, he offered him an unbreakable “everlasting covenant”
(Genesis 17:7). Jesus came to fulfill that covenant so that we could know the
living God and be united with him both now and for all eternity. God made us to
know him and to be united with him and he gives us the gift of faith and
understanding so that we may grow in the knowledge of what he has accomplished
for us through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus challenged the people of Israel to accept his word as the very revelation of God himself. His claim challenged the very foundation of their belief and understanding of God. Jesus made a series of claims which are the very foundation of his life and mission. What are these claims? First, Jesus claims unique knowledge of God as the only begotten Son of the Father in heaven. Since he claims to be in direct personal communion with his Father in heaven, he knows everything about the Father. Jesus claims that the only way to full knowledge of the mind and heart of God is through himself. Jesus also claims unique obedience to God the Father. He thinks, lives and acts in the knowledge of his Father’s word. To look at his life is to “see how God wishes me to live.” In Jesus alone we see what God wants us to know and what he wants us to be.
Jesus,
the Word of God, was one with the Father before time existed
When the Jewish authorities asked Jesus who do you claim to be? he
answered, “before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus claims to be timeless and
there is only one in the universe who is timeless, namely God. Scripture tells
us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”
(Hebrews 13:8). Jesus was not just a man who came, lived, died, and then rose
again. He is the immortal timeless One, who always was and always will be. In
Jesus we see the eternal God in visible flesh. He is God who became a man for
our sake and for our salvation. His death and resurrection make it possible for
us to share in his immortality. Do you believe the words of Jesus and obey them
with all your heart, mind, and strength?
“Lord Jesus, let your word be on my lips and in my heart that I may walk in the freedom of your everlasting love, truth and goodness.”
Psalm 105:4-9
4 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually!
5 Remember the wonderful works that he has done, his miracles, and the
judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
7 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the
earth.
8 He is mindful of his covenant for ever, of the word that he commanded, for a
thousand generations,
9 the covenant which he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac
A Daily Quote for Lent: Christ died that you might live, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
“For you Christ allowed Himself to be crucified, to teach you humility. He was alive, and you were dead. He died that you might live. God vanquished death so that death might not overcome human beings.” (excerpt from Sermon on John 2,4;14,13)
copyright (c) 2020 Servants of the Word, source: www.dailyscripture.net, author Don Schwager