My Father goes on working, so do I

 Ish 49:8-15, Jn 5:17-30. Today's first reading presents PROPHET Isaiah’s vision of his people returning from exile. The prophet imagines God splitting the mountains to bring forth his people home. In the same breath he imagines God as a mother, tenderly loving the child of her womb. Even if these images are oddly mismatched, they are presented to enhance the manifold mystery of God. Today’s Gospel also presents the mysteries of the Godhead. The Gospel affirms the equality of Father and Son, alongside the subordination of Jesus to the Father. The questions about life and death, judgment and resurrection, sin and grace, Heaven and damnation, life received and life possessed, are the subject of Gospel’s contemplation and such are the possibilities of our own life. We can be so deeply touched by inner joy that we want to summon the mountains to break out in song.

It shows the depth of God’s goodness and majesty. When Jesus cures a lame man at the pool of Bethesda, petty legalists complain about the violation of Sabbath rest. Long before, Isaiah had explained how to keep the Sabbath free from profanation: People should “do what is just… and let the foreigners join themselves to the Lord” (Ish 56:1-8). We can easily become narrow, prejudiced, blinded, tied up if we tie ourselves to formality, while people die of starvation.

May the Lord give us the Holy Spirit so that we may always be grateful for all the goodness He has shown to us and bear our trials with patience! Amen!! Good morning and have a pleasant day!!