5th TUESDAY OF LENT - Gospel (John 8:21-30) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
FIRST READING - Num 21:4-9
"Whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered."
A reading from the Book of Numbers
4 From Mount Hor they set out by way of the Red Sea, to bypass the land of Edom, but the people’s patience was worn out by the journey; 5 so the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”[a]
6 So the Lord sent among the people seraph[b] serpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, 8 and the Lord said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover.[c] 9 Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent[d] and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Jn 8:21-30
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM."
✠From the Gospel according to John
21 He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin.[a] Where I am going you cannot come.” 22 [b]So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM,[c] you will die in your sins.” 25 [d]So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” 27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. 28 So Jesus said [to them], “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
5th TUESDAY OF LENT - Gospel (John 8:21-30)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God,
Today's Word of God continues to call upon humanity to believe in the Word of Jesus in order to attain eternal life.
Jesus came into the world, and everything He spoke to humanity was the truth, coming from God the Father, for He originated from God the Father, came from God the Father, and belongs to God the Father.
All that He said, taught, and performed came from God the Father.
From the Incarnation to the proclamation of the Good News, to His death and resurrection, all were arranged according to the holy will of God the Father.
Jesus did not act according to His own will at all.
Jesus always loves all the children that God the Father has created. He knows that His children are walking in darkness, belonging to this world; therefore, He lovingly and kindly invites, explains, and instructs.
His Word is the Word of truth. Believe in the Word He teaches to attain eternal life.
Jesus foretold that His death and resurrection would bring salvation to humanity.
Today's Word of God reveals to humanity that Jesus came down from the Heavenly Kingdom to become man on earth and save humanity, and that His Kingdom does not belong to this world.
He invites all who believe in Him to enter and share in happiness with His Father in the Heavenly Kingdom.
However, with their darkened hearts and minds, the Pharisees still could not understand those invitations.
They only understood through their shallow thinking and limited human minds, and they did not open their hearts to receive the words of truth coming from God.
They relied only on theory, judgment, and the limited thinking of human beings, believing only what they can see with their eyes and hear with their ears.
They could not fully comprehend that behind that faith lies the truth of God, the Word that brings full and happy life to humanity.
The teachings and invitations of Jesus in the past were not only addressed to the Jewish Pharisees of that time, but they continue to echo even to this day: calling the children of God to believe in the words of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of God who came to earth as a man, suffered death, and rose again to save humanity.
Those who believe and follow His guidance and teachings will be granted the joy of sharing in His happiness in the Heavenly Kingdom by God the Father.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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