PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen
Monday of the 3rd Week of Easter
Church of the Nativity
April 16, 2018
Work or Works of God?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Jesus Is Asked a Question
Today’s Gospel ends with a question and Jesus’ cryptic response. If taken seriously, the question and answer could have a far reaching effect in your life.
Let’s review the scene: The people following Jesus are so captivated by the works they’ve just seen him perform, the latest of which is the miraculous feeding of more than 5,000 people with just five barley loaves and two small fish. They ask: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
In essence what they are saying is, “We want to be able to have more of this bread!”
And Jesus answers — true to form — in a rather unexpected way. He says, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”
If you paid careful attention, you’d see there’s a disconnect between their question and his answer. They want to know what are the “works of God” — works in the plural — but Jesus responds in the singular: “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”
So it’s not the works — that is, the miracles — but the work — singular — the work of God that’s taking place through Jesus.
His point, therefore, is that the one thing that is necessary is to believe that God is working in and through him.
We’re talking about a shift in the focus of our attention, from looking for miracles, to creating a personal relationship with Jesus, as one sent from God and as one through whom God acts and saves.
The Building of a Relationship
Jesus is making a big deal of this little letter “s” because it is from a relationship with him that all else flows and not vice versa: It’s belief in Jesus then the works, not the works and then belief in Jesus
So let’s look at that relationship — yours and Jesus’ — and where you are with it.
From our own experience of friendship or marriage, we can discern that a close relationship goes through 3 stages:
Ø Initially there’s a STAGE OF INITIATION, when you first encounter or are introduced to that other person and you find them, hm-m-m-m, very interesting. Key word “INITIATION.”
Ø Then there is a STAGE OF GROWING IN LOVE, when you begin to trust and increasingly allow yourself to be honest and vulnerable. Key word “GROWING.”
Ø Finally, there is the STAGE OF MATURING IN THE RELATIONSHIP, where the bond deepens, making greater and greater claims on each of you, and good things begin to accrue to both you and others in your lives because of the relationship. Key word “MATURING.”
If this is the case with our relationships with others, it is no less true of our relationship with Jesus.
What comes of that union is that we eventually make him our primary focus. He becomes the model and the basis of what we do, what we say, and how we think.
Jesus himself begins to move in and through us.
Where Are You with the Lord?
I would suggest that we are all somewhere on this relationship continuum with the Lord, and our very being here for this conference attests to that, but there is a deeper question of just, “Where are we on the continuum?”
Are we at the LEVEL OF INITIATION where we hardly know Jesus in our prayer or worship?
Or are we at the level of GROWING IN LOVE and caring for others who are ill or hurting, disadvantaged or displaced, ostracized or excluded?
Or are we MATURING IN THE RELATIONSHIP with the Lord, where we are able to dedicate our suffering, give our lives over for others, forgive the unforgiveable?
Conclusion
The challenge to us today, as we gather to love God, love others, and make disciples, is to ask ourselves, “Am I following Jesus because I’m looking for the works he does?”
Jesus would have us ask instead, “Where are you in your relationship with me?”
Make an effort to deepen that relationship, and out of this “work,” this relationship, will flow his own miracles and works through us.
The relationship must come first. Amen? AMEN!
Monday of the 3rdWeek of EasterChurch of the Nativity
April 16, 2018
Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.Then they instigated some men to say,
“We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.”27
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
“This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.Then they instigated some men to say,
“We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.”27
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
“This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm PS 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30
R. (1ab) Blessed are they who follow the law of the
Alleluia MT 4:4B
Gospel JN 6:22-29
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men,his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
DO NOT WORK FOR FOOD THAT PERISHES
BUT FOR THE FOOD THAT ENDURES FOR ETERNAL LIFE,which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
DO NOT WORK FOR FOOD THAT PERISHES
BUT FOR THE FOOD THAT ENDURES FOR ETERNAL LIFE,which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
No comments:
Post a Comment