This verse sums up the reason for all that is recorded
in the fourth Gospel. In fact, we read near the end of the Gospel that the evangelist
wrote down so much of what Jesus did so that we readers might believe and have life in His
name (20:30-31.)
Jesus often speaks of doing the will of His Father. He and the Father
are one. And that extends also to the work they do. As Jesus says so clearly, "My
Father is at work until now, so I am at work" (5:17).
The Father! At work! Is that the way we normally think of God? In art,
the Father is often pictured in a seated position, as if resting on an extended seventh
day of creation. But that is not the way the Bible presents God the Father.
If we look at the first reading for this Sunday, we find the author
talking about the Lord sending messengers "early and often" to the people,
urging them to focus on the things of God. "Early and often" - a very catchy way
to express God’s constant effort to get people back on track spiritually.
Of course, the citizens of Judah in those early days did not listen to
God’s messengers. The author of Chronicles has just the right label for their
spiritual failures. He calls them "lost sabbaths." The Lord’s Day was the
very thing that set them apart from other nations. But they wasted all that precious time
concentrating on their own agendas instead of thinking about God. So their story has a
very sad ending, with the kingdom collapsing all around them.
Citizens in the time of Jesus did not listen well either. And so, Jesus
has plenty to say about darkness and people who hate the light. Later in the Gospel, Jesus
has very strong words for those who claim to see but choose to be blind to His message
(John 9:41). And, when Judas, the apostle turned traitor, exits the Last Supper, the
evangelist poignantly observes, "it was night" (John 18:3).
Judas clearly prefers the darkness, something we are reminded of when
he returns with a band of soldiers who must carry lanterns and torches because they, too,
prefer to work in darkness (John 18:3). But, the light of Christ cannot be overcome by the
darkness. In fact, God’s saving will is so powerful that even things associated with
death are transformed into signs of hope. So Moses lifts the serpent in the desert to
serve as a sign of healing for the Israelites. And Jesus is lifted up on the cross (and in
resurrection) so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life.
Paul cannot say enough about this saving grace of God in his letter to
the church in Ephesus. He speaks of God’s great love for us "even when we were
dead in our transgressions."
(Father Schehr is a member of the faculty at the Athenaeum of Ohio in
