Franciscan on Sister Water

In the New Testament, John writes about the experience of Jesus’s conversations with everyday people and many that do not agree with his ideas or his methods of reaching out to others.

In one particular incident, Jesus has got himself into a tight spot and people are picking up rocks to stone him (John 10v31). Jesus says, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” The people answer, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy” (for Jesus said he was the Son of God). Oh course, Jesus is quite well studied in scripture and so he presents a quote from the Psalms and says, “Is it not written in your law,”I said you are Gods?” (Psalms 82v6). Well, I can imagine what kind of uproar this created. But, of course, we know that Jesus came to shake things up and so he did. But what really has me interested in this kind of dialogue is that he also says,”If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them , even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize ( and understand) that the Father is in me and I am in the Father”. Can not we also be in the Father as Jesus was? are His works impossible for us?

In my travels, I have met many people who say they have lost faith in their religion or they no longer look towards their former religion for guidance or support. To me this is a tragedy, but an understandable one. Many people have been hurt or disappointed by those who have represented their religion, and one can fall out of love for something that seems unlovable. No one is perfect and there are those who would prey on others using their authority (we can see this in many situations of the World today). However, there are many more genuinely good people who believe in doing good for others and regularly challenge themselves to improve themselves. Even St. Paul in almost all of his writings reminded his followers to respect and show love and kindness. He had to do this repeatedly, because he knew how easy it was to succumb to the temptations of being in a position of authority. St. Francis also reminded his followers that every day they had to remind themselves of the way to God and goodness. I think this is doable but takes a lot of mental discipline. Every day we must remind ourselves of what we want to become and how we want to act towards others. And I think the key to this is “love never fails” (Corinthians13v8). I think this is Jesus’s teaching in a nutshell and in my own experience everything seems to work better with love.

So, I think Jesus is saying that if we do the works of the Father we will be in the Father and that Spirit of Love will be in us. I can’t think of a better way of living and I hope that more people will think about this in their own minds and discern how the Father is to work in their lives with love.