Wednesday May 10
John's Gospel: may be compared to a great diptych. The first part consists of Chapters 1 to 12, which the scholars call the book of signs: the seven miracles of Christ. Chapter 13 introduces the second part, called the book of the Hour, that is, of his death and Easter glory. Faith and light are the subjects of today's text. Believing in Jesus is to believe in the Father, to see the Son is to see the Father, to hear the words of Christ is to adhere to the Word of God. The light of God comes to us by his Son that takes us out the darkness of sin and immerses us in God.
Alternative
“Honesty is the best policy,” it is said. But if you are honest only as a policy, are you honest? If there arose a situation where honesty wasn’t to your advantage, would you still want to be honest? If so, then honesty is much more to you than a policy. We could say the same about any virtue you mention. It has to be for its own sake, not for the sake of anything else. Eckhart wrote, “If you should ask a good person, ‘Why do you love God?’ he or she will reply, ‘I don’t know; for God’s sake’. ‘Why do you love truth?’ ‘For truth’s sake’. ‘Why do you live?’ ‘Indeed I don’t know—I like living!’ A master says, ‘A person who has once been touched by truth, justice and goodness can no more leave them than God can leave His Godhead.’” There is a kind of innocence about every virtue. It is beautiful to see a person do something good just because it is good, and not for some ulterior motive.
Jesus was entirely transparent. “Whoever sees me sees the One who sent me.” Because he had moved beyond self-defense he was not in competition with anyone. He neither judged nor condemned. “I have come not to condemn the world but to save it.”
