Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent - March 13, 2013
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
John 5:17 – 23
In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
I am surrounded by people who see God differently than I do, who think of God acting differently that I think God acts. That difference typically creates tension, separations, and divides.
I wonder how I am invited to cross bridges to the others?
My first impulse is to cross the bridge to them in order to share the “correct” vision of God with them . . . to help them better understand who God really is . . . but I immediately see the arrogance in that stance.
Is it possible to be with others who see God differently, without needing to convince them of something? Without trying to change their minds? What is it like to be with someone else simply, with no wrangling and manipulating?
John 5:17 – 23
In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
I am surrounded by people who see God differently than I do, who think of God acting differently that I think God acts. That difference typically creates tension, separations, and divides.
I wonder how I am invited to cross bridges to the others?
My first impulse is to cross the bridge to them in order to share the “correct” vision of God with them . . . to help them better understand who God really is . . . but I immediately see the arrogance in that stance.
Is it possible to be with others who see God differently, without needing to convince them of something? Without trying to change their minds? What is it like to be with someone else simply, with no wrangling and manipulating?
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