Thursday April 27
This concludes Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus who disappeared the same night he set out to meet Christ. A solitary figure remains in the middle of the scene: the Son of God with a halo of light. He comes from above, from heaven, from the infinite and eternal; his words are God’s and his great gift is the Spirit that regenerates mankind. We have to commit in faith and obedience to the truth of the Son; otherwise, we will merit the storm of God's wrath. Judgment and salvation: two opposite extremes that we are free to choose.
“The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything into his hands.” There are many similar phrases in John’s gospel. “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing” (5:20). “Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands” (13:3). “All that the Father has is mine” (16:15). “Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you” (17:7). The Son in turn gives everything to the Father, “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine” (17:10).
Then Jesus has given us everything, “I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father” (15:15). “The glory you have given me, I have given them” (17:22). The word “everything” seems to be God’s kind of word; and the word “all”. It was the fundamental command, the “Schema Israel”, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Dt 6:5). He is not interested in how much it amounts to, so long as it is everything: the widow’s mite was “all she had to live on” (Mk 12:44). We may not have much, but we have everything! When we give everything we have we are being drawn into the life of the Trinity.
